RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Limestone County >> Shanghai >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shanghai, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shanghai 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 Shanghai:
    • 34.850087, -87.085012
    • 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 Shanghai
  • 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 Limestone County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Limestone County
    • Since Shanghai is near Lauderdale County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Shanghai

Communities Also Named Shanghai ...

We found nine communities that are also named Shanghai.

Within Alabama, the name Shanghai is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Warren County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Shanghai [Warren County].
    • Indiana
      • Howard County
      • This Shanghai is located in Howard County and lies 388 miles [624.4 km]<2> to the north of the Shanghai that is located in Limestone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Shanghai.
    • Missouri
      • Camden County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Camden County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Shanghai.
      • Vernon County
      • Although located in Vernon County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vernon County community of Shanghai.
    • North Carolina
      • Cleveland County
      • This Shanghai is located in Cleveland County and lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<2> to the east of the Shanghai that is located in Limestone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cleveland County community of Shanghai.
      • Sampson County
      • This Shanghai is located in Sampson County and lies 503 miles [809.5 km] to the east of the Shanghai that is located in Limestone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sampson County community of Shanghai.
    • Texas
      • Wharton County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Wharton County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wharton County community of Shanghai.
    • Virginia
      • King and Queen County
      • This Shanghai is located in King and Queen County and lies 604 miles [972 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Shanghai that is located in Limestone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King and Queen County community of Shanghai.
    • West Virginia
      • Berkeley County
      • This Shanghai is located in Berkeley County and lies 585 miles [941.5 km]<2> to the northeast of the Shanghai that is located in Limestone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Berkeley County community of Shanghai.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shanghai ...

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.

  • Cairo
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cairo is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
  • Cartwright
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cartwright is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cartwright
  • Cave Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cave Spring is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Cross Key
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cross Key is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Key
  • Easter Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Easter Ferry is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Easter Ferry
  • Farmview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmview is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmview
  • Glenn Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Glenn Valley is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenn Valley
  • Green Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Hills is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hills
  • Hay's Mill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Hay's Mill is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hay's Mill
  • Hickory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Meadowbrook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Persimmon Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Persimmon Grove is located in Limestone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Persimmon Grove
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Pleasant Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Limestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Poplar Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Poplar Creek is located in Limestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Creek
    • Shoemaker Springs ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Shoemaker Springs is located in Limestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoemaker Springs
    • Walnut Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Walnut Hill is located in Limestone County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hill

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

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

  • Athens, which is the Seat of Limestone County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Shanghai to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 620 miles [997.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,499 miles [10,459.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,214 miles [11,609.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,090 miles [8,191.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Shanghai 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shanghai) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Shanghai, 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 Shanghai 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 Shanghai. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8501, Longitude: -87.0850       In this case, the coordinates for Shanghai have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.924 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.757 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.122 degrees.