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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shawtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shawtown 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 Shawtown:
    • 33.138452, -87.152774
    • 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 Shawtown
  • 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 Bibb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bibb County
    • Since Shawtown is near Tuscaloosa County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscaloosa 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 Shawtown

Communities Also Named Shawtown ...

We found six communities that are also named Shawtown.

Within Alabama, the name Shawtown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle 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 Delaware community of Shawtown [New Castle County].
    • North Carolina
      • Harnett County
      • This Shawtown is located in Harnett County and lies 499 miles [803.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Shawtown that is located in Bibb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harnett County community of Shawtown.
    • Ohio
      • Hancock County
      • This Shawtown is located in Hancock County and lies 579 miles [931.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Shawtown that is located in Bibb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Shawtown.
      • Morrow County
      • This Shawtown is located in Morrow County and lies 557 miles [896.4 km] to the north northeast of the Shawtown that is located in Bibb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morrow County community of Shawtown.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • This Shawtown is located in Westmoreland County and lies 645 miles [1,038 km]<2> to the northeast of the Shawtown that is located in Bibb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of Shawtown.
    • Wisconsin
      • Eau Claire County
      • This Shawtown is located in Eau Claire County and lies 838 miles [1,348.6 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Shawtown that is located in Bibb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eau Claire County community of Shawtown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shawtown ...

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.

  • Bibbville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Bibbville is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bibbville
  • Bucktown ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bucktown is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucktown
  • Flat Top
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Flat Top is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Top
  • Hebron
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hebron is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
  • Italian Town
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Italian Town is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Italian Town
  • Johnstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Johnstown is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Primitive Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Primitive Ridge is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Primitive Ridge
  • Red Eagle
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Red Eagle is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Eagle
  • Stacks Hill ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Stacks Hill is located in Bibb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacks Hill

How Far From Shawtown to ...

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

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

  • Centreville, which is the Seat of Bibb County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Shawtown to Centreville, with an average speed<3> 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 72 miles [115.9 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 690 miles [1,110.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,584 miles [10,595.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,292 miles [11,735.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,169 miles [8,318.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Shawtown 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' (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- Shawtown) 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 Shawtown 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 Shawtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1385, Longitude: -87.1528       In this case, the coordinates for Shawtown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.863 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.45 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.517 degrees.