RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Lauderdale County >> Wilson Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wilson Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wilson Heights 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 Wilson Heights:
    • 34.831198, -87.616694
    • 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 Wilson Heights
  • 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 Lauderdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale County
    • Since Wilson Heights is near Colbert County and also Lawrence County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Colbert County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence 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 Wilson Heights

Communities Also Named Wilson Heights ...

We found five communities that are also named Wilson Heights.

Within Alabama, the name Wilson Heights is unique.

Beyond Alabama, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Madison County
      • This Wilson Heights is located in Madison County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Wilson Heights that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Wilson Heights.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Wilson Heights.
    • South Carolina
      • Florence County
      • This Wilson Heights is located in Florence County and lies 449 miles [722.6 km]<1> to the east of the Wilson Heights that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Florence County community of Wilson Heights.
    • Tennessee
      • Bradley County
      • This Wilson Heights is located in Bradley County and lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<1> to the east of the Wilson Heights that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradley County community of Wilson Heights.
    • Virginia
      • Augusta County
      • This Wilson Heights is located in Augusta County and lies 529 miles [851.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Wilson Heights that is located in Lauderdale County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Augusta County community of Wilson Heights.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wilson Heights ...

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.

  • Emerald Shores
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Emerald Shores is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Shores
  • Hickory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Hideaway Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hideaway Hills is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hideaway Hills
  • Indian Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Indian Springs is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Kingman ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Kingman is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman
  • Lake Coves
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lake Coves is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Coves
  • Lakeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lakeview Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lakeview Heights is located in Lauderdale County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
  • Lakeview Highlands
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview Highlands is located in Colbert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Highlands
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lockland
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Lockland is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockland
    • Mars Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Mars Hill is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
    • Sky Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Sky Park is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky Park
    • Twin Brooks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Twin Brooks is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Brooks
    • Village Pines
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Village Pines is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Village Pines
    • Woodlawn
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Woodlawn is located in Lauderdale County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn

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

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

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Lauderdale County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Wilson Heights 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 647 miles [1,041.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,522 miles [10,496.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,238 miles [11,648.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,113 miles [8,228.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Wilson Heights) 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 Wilson Heights 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 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 Wilson Heights 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 Wilson Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8312, Longitude: -87.6167       In this case, the coordinates for Wilson Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.249 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.131 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.348 degrees.