RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Jefferson County >> South Highlands >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Highlands, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Highlands 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 South Highlands:
    • 33.569826, -86.713044
    • 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 South Highlands
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since South Highlands is near Blount County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blount 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 South Highlands

Communities Also Named South Highlands ...

We found five communities that are also named South Highlands.

Within Alabama, the name South Highlands is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Bibb County
      • This South Highlands is located in Bibb County and lies 184 miles [296.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the South Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bibb County community of South Highlands.
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of South Highlands [Caddo Parish].
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This South Highlands is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 338 miles [544 km]<1> to the southwest of the South Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of South Highlands.
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This South Highlands is located in Butler County and lies 429 miles [690.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the South Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of South Highlands.
    • Washington
      • Benton County
      • This South Highlands is located in Benton County and lies 1,908 miles [3,070.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the South Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of South Highlands.

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Highlands ...

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.

  • Airport Highlands
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Airport Highlands is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Highlands
  • Danville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Danville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
  • Five Points East
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Five Points East is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points East
  • Gate City
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Gate City is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gate City
  • Holiday Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Holiday Gardens is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Gardens
  • Hunters Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunters Hill is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Hill
  • Irondale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Kingsway Terrace
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Kingsway Terrace is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsway Terrace
  • Liberty Highlands
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Liberty Highlands is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Highlands
  • Marks Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Marks Village is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marks Village
  • Mountain Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain Forest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Forest
  • Mountain Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Plain View
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Plain View is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plain View
    • Rock Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Rock Ridge is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Ridge
    • Rose Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Rose Hill is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Saddlebrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Saddlebrook is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saddlebrook
    • Spring Garden
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Spring Garden is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
    • Trotwood Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Trotwood Park is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotwood Park
    • Woodlawn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Woodlawn is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Woodlawn Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Woodlawn Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights
    • Zion City
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Zion City is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion City

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

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

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from South Highlands to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 651 miles [1,047.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,545 miles [10,533.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,254 miles [11,674.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,130 miles [8,255.9 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- South Highlands) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 South Highlands 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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 South Highlands 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 South Highlands. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5698, Longitude: -86.7130       In this case, the coordinates for South Highlands have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.626 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.236 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.25 degrees.