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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westlawn, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westlawn 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 Westlawn:
    • 34.719813, -86.627494
    • 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 Westlawn
  • 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 Madison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Since Westlawn is near Limestone County and also Morgan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Limestone County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan 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 Westlawn

Communities Also Named Westlawn ...

We found four communities that are also named Westlawn.

Within Alabama, the name Westlawn is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Allen County
      • This Westlawn is located in Allen County and lies 445 miles [716.2 km]<1> to the north of the Westlawn that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen County community of Westlawn.
    • New York
      • Albany 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 New York community of Westlawn [Albany County].
    • Texas
      • Orange 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 Texas community of Westlawn [Orange County].
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Westlawn is located in Fairfax County and lies 595 miles [957.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Westlawn that is located in Madison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Westlawn.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westlawn ...

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.

  • Cavalry Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cavalry Hill is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavalry Hill
  • Green Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Green Acres is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Hillandale
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Hillandale is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillandale
  • Huntsville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Huntsville Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Huntsville Park is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville Park
  • Lincoln
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
  • Longwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Longwood is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
  • Oak Leaf
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Oak Leaf is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Leaf
  • Pea Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pea Ridge is located in Madison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Ridge
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Scenic View
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Scenic View is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic View
    • Shady Lane
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Shady Lane is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Lane
    • Summit Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Summit Place is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Place
    • Terry Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Terry Heights is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry Heights
    • Union Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Union Park is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Park
    • University Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • University Park is located in Madison County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Park

How Far From Westlawn to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Westlawn to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Huntsville, which is the Seat of Madison County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Westlawn to Montgomery, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 603 miles [970.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,487 miles [10,439.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,200 miles [11,587.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,075 miles [8,167.4 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- Westlawn) 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 Westlawn 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 Westlawn 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 Westlawn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.7198, Longitude: -86.6275       In this case, the coordinates for Westlawn have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.638 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.409 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.961 degrees.