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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Russell Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Russell Heights 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 Russell Heights:
    • 33.553437, -86.560263
    • 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 Russell Heights
  • 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 Russell Heights is near Saint Clair County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby 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 Russell Heights

Communities Also Named Russell Heights ...

We found two communities that are also named Russell Heights.

Within Alabama, the name Russell Heights is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Greenup County
      • This Russell Heights is located in Greenup County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Russell Heights that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenup County community of Russell Heights.
    • Ohio
      • Columbiana 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 Ohio community of Russell Heights [Columbiana County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Russell Heights ...

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.

  • Battleground
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Battleground is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battleground
  • Braggsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Braggsville is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braggsville
  • Cedar Grove ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Heritage Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Heritage Park is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Park
  • Hundred Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hundred Oaks is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hundred Oaks
  • Liberty Highlands
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Liberty Highlands is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Highlands
  • Maplewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Maplewood is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood
  • Moody
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Moody is located in Saint Clair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moody
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,292 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moody <3>
  • Mountain Forest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Forest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Forest
  • Oak Crossing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Crossing is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Crossing
  • Queenstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Queenstown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queenstown
  • Rock Ridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Rock Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Ridge
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Roper
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Roper is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roper
    • Rose Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Rose Hill is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Saddlebrook
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Saddlebrook is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saddlebrook
    • Woodland Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Woodland Village is located in Saint Clair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village

How Far From Russell Heights 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 Russell Heights to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Russell Heights to Birmingham, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 82 miles [132 km] to the south (S). 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 645 miles [1,038 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,540 miles [10,525.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,248 miles [11,664.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,124 miles [8,246.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Russell Heights) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Russell Heights 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Russell Heights 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 Russell Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5534, Longitude: -86.5603       In this case, the coordinates for Russell Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.533 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.127 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.192 degrees.