RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Etowah County >> Smiths Bridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smiths Bridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smiths Bridge 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 Smiths Bridge:
    • 34.152873, -85.987472
    • 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 Smiths Bridge
  • 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 Etowah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Etowah County
    • Since Smiths Bridge is near DeKalb County and also Marshall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 Smiths Bridge

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smiths Bridge ...

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.

  • Bath Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bath Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Springs
  • Cave Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Cave Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Springs
  • Crudup
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Crudup is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crudup
  • Daisy
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Daisy is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisy
  • Duck Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
  • Flanders
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Flanders is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flanders
  • Greenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Happy Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Happy Hill is located in Etowah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Hill
  • Liberty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Liberty Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Liberty Hill is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hill
    • Marcus ‑ Historic
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Marcus is located in DeKalb County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marcus
    • Pleasant Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Pulltight
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Pulltight is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pulltight
    • Turkeytown
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Turkeytown is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown
    • Yancy
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Yancy is located in Etowah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancy

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Smiths Bridge once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Smiths Bridge and extending to:

  • Gadsden, which is the Seat of Etowah County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Smiths Bridge to Gadsden, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 123 miles [197.9 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 594 miles [956 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,487 miles [10,439.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,196 miles [11,580.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,073 miles [8,164.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Smiths Bridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Smiths Bridge) 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 Smiths Bridge 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 Smiths Bridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1529, Longitude: -85.9875       In this case, the coordinates for Smiths Bridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.222 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.851 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.829 degrees.