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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shades View Estates, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shades View Estates 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 Shades View Estates:
    • 33.439830, -86.802767
    • 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 Shades View Estates
  • 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 Shades View Estates is near Shelby County and also Blount 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 Blount 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 Shades View Estates

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shades View Estates ...

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.

  • Chapel Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Cherokee Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherokee Forest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Forest
  • Chimney Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Chimney Hills is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Hills
  • Coventry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Coventry is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
  • Crest
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Crest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crest
  • Crossgate
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Crossgate is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossgate
  • Grove Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Grove Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
  • Havenview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Havenview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havenview
  • Hidden Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hidden Ridge is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Ridge
  • Homewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Hoover
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hoover is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoover
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 85,959 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoover <1>
  • Imperial Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Imperial Forest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imperial Forest
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Ivy Glenn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Ivy Glenn is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Glenn
    • Lakeview Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Lakeview Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Park
    • Longleaf
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Longleaf is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longleaf
    • Mill Run
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Mill Run is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
    • Mountain Oaks
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Mountain Oaks is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Oaks
    • Panorama
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Panorama is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama
    • Plantation Point
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Plantation Point is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plantation Point
    • Rocky Bridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Rocky Bridge is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Bridge
    • Rocky Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Rocky Ridge is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ridge
    • Shades Cliff
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Shades Cliff is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shades Cliff
    • Tangle Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Tangle Creek is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tangle Creek
    • Tanglewood
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Tanglewood is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood
    • Timber Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Timber Ridge is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge
    • Twin Bridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Twin Bridge is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridge

How Far From Shades View Estates 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 Shades View Estates to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Shades View Estates and extending to:

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the North.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Shades View Estates to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 661 miles [1,063.8 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,555 miles [10,549.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,264 miles [11,690.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,140 miles [8,272 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shades View Estates) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Shades View Estates 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 Shades View Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4398, Longitude: -86.8028       In this case, the coordinates for Shades View Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.672 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.271 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.314 degrees.