Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Shotwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shotwell and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Shotwell
- 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 Shotwell:
- 32.584304, -85.183551
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Shotwell
- 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 Lee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Lee County
- Since Shotwell is near Harris County and also Russell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Harris County
- eBird sighting report for Russell 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Shotwell ...
We found two communities that share the name Shotwell.
Within Alabama, the name Shotwell is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Missouri
- North Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Shotwell ...
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.
- Crooked Creek
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crooked Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Creek
- Crooked Creek is located in Lee County
- Edgewood Forest
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edgewood Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood Forest
- Edgewood Forest is located in Lee County
- Green Island Hills
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Island Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Island Hills
- Green Island Hills is located in Muscogee County (GA)
- Hallway
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Hopewell
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Jester
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Meadows Crossroads
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadows Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Crossroads
- Meadows Crossroads is located in Lee County
- Meadows Mill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadows Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows Mill
- Meadows Mill is located in Lee County
- Mechanicsville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mechanicsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
- Mechanicsville is located in Lee County
- Piney Grove
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piney Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove
- Piney Grove is located in Harris County (GA)
- Prince Crossroads
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prince Crossroads
- Prince Crossroads is located in Lee County
How Far From Shotwell to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Shotwell to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Shotwell and extending to:
- Opelika, which is the Seat of Lee County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Shotwell to Opelika, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 66 miles [106.2 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 630 miles [1,013.9 km] to the northeast (NE). 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 6,527 miles [10,504.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,227 miles [11,630.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,106 miles [8,217.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Shotwell. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
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 Shotwell 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- Shotwell) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Shotwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.5843, Longitude: -85.1836 In this case, the coordinates for Shotwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 Shotwell to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.661 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.985 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.864 degrees. |