RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jefferson County >> Rolling Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Rolling Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rolling Ridge and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Rolling Ridge:
    • 33.347889, -86.871101
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Rolling Ridge
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Rolling Ridge is near Shelby County and also Tuscaloosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Rolling Ridge

Communities Also Named Rolling Ridge ...

We found eight communities that are also named Rolling Ridge.

Within Alabama, the name Rolling Ridge is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in New Castle County and lies 761 miles [1,224.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Rolling Ridge.
    • Georgia
      • Gwinnett County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in Gwinnett County and lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gwinnett County community of Rolling Ridge.
    • Indiana
      • Shelby County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in Shelby County and lies 432 miles [695.2 km]<1> to the north of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Rolling Ridge.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in Baltimore County and lies 697 miles [1,121.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Rolling Ridge.
      • Carroll County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in Carroll County and lies 693 miles [1,115.3 km] to the northeast of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Rolling Ridge.
      • Howard County
      • This Rolling Ridge is located in Howard County and lies 694 miles [1,116.9 km] to the northeast of the Rolling Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Rolling Ridge.
      • Prince George's County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Rolling Ridge [Prince George's County].
    • Ohio
      • Hamilton County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Hamilton County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Rolling Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rolling Ridge ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Eden Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Eden Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Ridge
  • High Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • High Point is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Hilltop
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hilltop is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hopewell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hopewell is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Ivy Chase
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ivy Chase is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Chase
  • Laceys Chapel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Laceys Chapel is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laceys Chapel
  • Mars Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Mars Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
  • Paramount
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Paramount is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paramount
  • Roy Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Roy Ford is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roy Ford
  • Royal Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Royal Oaks is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Oaks
  • Shades Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Shades Run is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shades Run
  • Shadywood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Shadywood is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadywood
  • Weeping Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Weeping Oaks is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeping Oaks
  • Whispering Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Whispering Oaks is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Oaks

How Far From Rolling Ridge to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Rolling Ridge to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rolling Ridge and extending to:

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rolling Ridge to Birmingham, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 74 miles [119.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 668 miles [1,075 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,562 miles [10,560.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,271 miles [11,701.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,147 miles [8,283.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rolling Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Rolling Ridge could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Rolling Ridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Rolling Ridge to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rolling Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3479, Longitude: -86.8711       In this case, the coordinates for Rolling Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.707 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.299 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.36 degrees.