Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Wilsons, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wilsons and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Wilsons
- 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 Wilsons:
- 34.076485, -85.972194
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Wilsons
- 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 Etowah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Etowah County
- Since Wilsons is near DeKalb County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
- eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Wilsons ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Wilsons.
Within Alabama, the name Wilsons is unique.
Beyond Alabama, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- South Carolina
- Clarendon County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Wilsons [Clarendon County].
- Lexington County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Wilsons [Lexington County].
- Tennessee
- Anderson County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Wilsons [Anderson County].
- Monroe County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Wilsons [Monroe County].
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Wilsons ...
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.
- Bath Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bath Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath Springs
- Bath Springs is located in Etowah County
- Cave Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cave Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cave Springs
- Cave Springs is located in Etowah County
- Coat's Bend
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coat's Bend
- Coat's Bend is located in Etowah County
- Crudup
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Daisy
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast) - Duck Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Duck Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Springs
- Duck Springs is located in Etowah County
- Edwardsville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwardsville
- Edwardsville is located in Etowah County
- Goodyear
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Luke
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Pleasant Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Etowah County
- Pull Tight ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pull Tight have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pull Tight
- Pull Tight is located in Etowah County
- Scenic Heights
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scenic Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Heights
- Scenic Heights is located in Etowah County
- Turkeytown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown
- Turkeytown is located in Etowah County
- Wisdom Ferry
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wisdom Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisdom Ferry
- Wisdom Ferry is located in Etowah County
How Far From Wilsons 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 Wilsons to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Wilsons once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Wilsons and extending to:
- Gadsden, which is the Seat of Etowah County, lies just to the South Southwest.
- Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 118 miles [189.9 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Wilsons to Montgomery, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 596 miles [959.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,490 miles [10,444.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,199 miles [11,585.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,075 miles [8,167.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Etowah County: www.etowahcounty.org/
The official website for State of Alabama: https://www.alabama.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Wilsons 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. |
| <2> | 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- Wilsons) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Wilsons. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0765, Longitude: -85.9722 In this case, the coordinates for Wilsons have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | 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 Wilsons, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Wilsons to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.209 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.825 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.84 degrees. |