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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Sheffield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Sheffield 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 Sheffield:
    • 34.742311, -87.703641
    • 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 Sheffield
  • 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 Colbert County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Since South Sheffield is near Lauderdale County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Sheffield

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Sheffield ...

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.

  • Cave Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cave Spring is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Spring
  • Cypress Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cypress Creek is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Creek
  • Cypress Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cypress Heights is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Heights
  • Florence
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Florence Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Florence Ferry is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence Ferry
  • Furnace Hill ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Furnace Hill is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Hill
  • Hobgood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hobgood is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobgood
  • Houston Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Houston Corner is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houston Corner
  • James
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • James is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
  • Lakeview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lakeview is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Manor Haven
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Manor Haven is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Haven
  • Milk Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Milk Springs is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milk Springs
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Mount Pleasant is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
    • Muscle Shoals
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Three Forks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Three Forks is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks
    • Valley Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Valley Grove is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Grove
    • Woodlawn Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Woodlawn Heights is located in Colbert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in South Sheffield and extending to:

  • Tuscumbia, which is the Seat of Colbert County, lies just to the South.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 182 miles [292.9 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from South Sheffield to Montgomery, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,530 miles [10,509 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,246 miles [11,661.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,121 miles [8,241.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- South Sheffield) 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 South Sheffield 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 Sheffield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.7423, Longitude: -87.7036       In this case, the coordinates for South Sheffield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.298 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.175 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.404 degrees.