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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Valentine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Valentine 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 Valentine:
    • 33.224004, -86.470536
    • 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 Valentine
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Valentine is near Talladega County and also Coosa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Talladega County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coosa 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 Valentine

Communities Also Named Valentine ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Valentine.

Within Alabama, the name Valentine is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Mohave County
      • This Valentine is located in Mohave County and lies 1,553 miles [2,499.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mohave County community of Valentine.
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski County
      • This Valentine is located in Pulaski County and lies 343 miles [552 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Valentine.
    • Georgia
      • Echols County
      • 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 Georgia community of Valentine [Echols County].
    • Indiana
      • LaGrange County
      • This Valentine is located in LaGrange County and lies 580 miles [933.4 km]<1> to the north of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the LaGrange County community of Valentine.
    • Louisiana
      • Lafourche Parish
      • This Valentine is located in Lafourche Parish and lies 343 miles [552 km]<1> to the southwest of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafourche Parish community of Valentine.
    • Montana
      • Fergus County
      • This Valentine is located in Fergus County and lies 1,501 miles [2,415.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fergus County community of Valentine.
    • Nebraska
      • Cherry County
      • This Valentine is located in Cherry County and lies 1,012 miles [1,628.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherry County community of Valentine.
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex County
      • This Valentine is located in Middlesex County and lies 838 miles [1,348.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Valentine.
    • Ohio
      • Shelby County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Valentine [Shelby County].
    • South Carolina
      • Hampton County
      • This Valentine is located in Hampton County and lies 303 miles [487.6 km]<1> to the east of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hampton County community of Valentine.
      • Lexington County
      • 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 South Carolina community of Valentine [Lexington County].
    • Texas
      • Jeff Davis County
      • This Valentine is located in Jeff Davis County and lies 1,070 miles [1,722 km]<1> to the west of the Valentine that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jeff Davis County community of Valentine.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Valentine ...

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.

  • Chancellor Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Erratta
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Erratta is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erratta
  • Fourmile
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Fourmile is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourmile
  • Grove Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Grove Park is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
  • Harpersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Homestead
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Homestead is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestead
  • Indian Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Hill is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hill
  • Indian Shoals
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Indian Shoals is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Shoals
  • Kingdom Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Kingdom Crossroads is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingdom Crossroads
  • Minor Terrace
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Minor Terrace is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor Terrace
  • Mount Sharon
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Mount Sharon is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Sharon
  • Nelson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Nelson is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
  • Sulphur Spring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sulphur Spring is located in Talladega County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Spring

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

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

  • Columbiana, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 59 miles [95 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Valentine to Montgomery, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 655 miles [1,054.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,551 miles [10,542.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,258 miles [11,680.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,135 miles [8,264 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Valentine) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Valentine 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>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 Valentine, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Valentine 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 Valentine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2240, Longitude: -86.4705       In this case, the coordinates for Valentine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.459 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.996 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.227 degrees.