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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Village Creek Junction, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Village Creek Junction and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
    • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
    • The National Weather Service forecast for Village Creek Junction
  • 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 Village Creek Junction:
    • 33.528717, -86.891937
    • 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 Village Creek Junction
  • 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 Village Creek Junction is near Shelby County and also Walker County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Walker 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 Village Creek Junction

Curious and Interesting Names Near Village Creek Junction ...

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.

  • Edgewater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Edgewater is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater
  • Falls Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Falls Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Junction
  • Forestdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Forestdale is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Frenchtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Frenchtown is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
  • Glenview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Glenview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenview
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Green Acres is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hillview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hillview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillview
  • Ivanhoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ivanhoe is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivanhoe
  • Little Italy
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Little Italy is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Italy
  • Martins
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Martins is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins
  • Minor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Minor is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor
  • Park Courts
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Park Courts is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Courts
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Shadyside
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Shadyside is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadyside
    • Sunset Mountain
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunset Mountain is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Mountain
    • Tuxedo Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Tuxedo Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuxedo Heights
    • Zion Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Zion Heights is located in Jefferson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion Heights

How Far From Village Creek Junction 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 Village Creek Junction to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Village Creek Junction and extending to:

  • Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the East.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Village Creek Junction to Montgomery, with an average speed<2>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 661 miles [1,063.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,555 miles [10,549.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,264 miles [11,690.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,140 miles [8,272 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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- Village Creek Junction) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Village Creek Junction 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 Village Creek Junction. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5287, Longitude: -86.8919       In this case, the coordinates for Village Creek Junction have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.731 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.352 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.33 degrees.