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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smithdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smithdale 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 Smithdale:
    • 34.200654, -86.859724
    • 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 Smithdale
  • 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 Cullman County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cullman County
    • Since Smithdale is near Morgan County and also Blount County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan 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 Smithdale

Communities Also Named Smithdale ...

We found seven communities that are also named Smithdale.

Within Alabama, the name Smithdale is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Cross County
      • This Smithdale is located in Cross County and lies 220 miles [354.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Smithdale that is located in Cullman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cross County community of Smithdale.
    • Illinois
      • Livingston County
      • This Smithdale is located in Livingston County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km]<1> to the north of the Smithdale that is located in Cullman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Smithdale.
    • Mississippi
      • Amite County
      • This Smithdale is located in Amite County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the southwest of the Smithdale that is located in Cullman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Amite County community of Smithdale.
    • Ohio
      • Harrison County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Smithdale [Harrison County].
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Smithdale.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Smithdale is located in Allegheny County and lies 569 miles [915.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Smithdale that is located in Cullman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Smithdale.
    • Texas
      • Childress County
      • This Smithdale is located in Childress County and lies 759 miles [1,221.5 km]<1> to the west of the Smithdale that is located in Cullman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Childress County community of Smithdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smithdale ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Berlin is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
  • Bolte
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Bolte is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolte
  • Centerville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Centerville is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Dyers Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Dyers Crossroads is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyers Crossroads
  • Gold Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Gold Ridge is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Ridge
  • Good Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Good Hope is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,393 people
  • Grandview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Grandview is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Longview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Longview is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Pleasant View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant View is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Providence
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Providence is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
  • Terrace Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Terrace Heights is located in Cullman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrace Heights

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

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

  • Cullman, which is the Seat of Cullman County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 129 miles [207.6 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Smithdale to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 633 miles [1,018.7 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 6,521 miles [10,494.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,233 miles [11,640.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,109 miles [8,222.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Smithdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Smithdale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Smithdale 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.
<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 Smithdale 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 Smithdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2007, Longitude: -86.8597       In this case, the coordinates for Smithdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.751 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.468 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.172 degrees.