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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in West Highlands, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Highlands and the surrounding area.
- 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 West Highlands:
- 33.408443, -86.996938
- 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 West 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 West Highlands is near Shelby County and also Tuscaloosa 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 Tuscaloosa 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 West Highlands
Communities Also Named West Highlands ...
We found five communities that are also named West Highlands.
Within Alabama, the name West Highlands is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- San Bernardino County
- This West Highlands is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,729 miles [2,782.6 km]<1> to the west of the West Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of West Highlands.
- Florida
- Hillsborough County
- This West Highlands is located in Hillsborough County and lies 462 miles [743.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the West Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of West Highlands.
- Georgia
- Bibb 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 West Highlands [Bibb County].
- North Carolina
- Forsyth County
- This West Highlands is located in Forsyth County and lies 424 miles [682.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forsyth County community of West Highlands.
- Washington
- Benton County
- This West Highlands is located in Benton County and lies 1,904 miles [3,064.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the West Highlands that is located in Jefferson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of West Highlands.
Curious and Interesting Names Near West 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.
- Bush
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Bush is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
- Cloverdale
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Cloverdale is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
- Flint Hill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Flint Hill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
- Glen Hills
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Glen Hills is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Hills
- Hueytown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
- Industrial City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Industrial City is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industrial City
- Pauls Hill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Pauls Hill is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pauls Hill
- Pine Crest
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Pine Crest is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Crest
- Rice
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
- Rice is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice
- Shady Brook
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Shady Brook is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Brook
- Skyview
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Skyview is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyview
- Vineland Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Vineland Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineland Park
- Virginia
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
- Virginia is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia
How Far From West Highlands 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 West Highlands to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in West Highlands and extending to:
- Birmingham, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Highlands to Birmingham, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 81 miles [130.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 671 miles [1,079.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,565 miles [10,565.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,274 miles [11,706.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,150 miles [8,288.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 West 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 West 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 West Highlands. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4084, Longitude: -86.9969 In this case, the coordinates for West Highlands have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.787 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.40 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.398 degrees. |
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