RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Shelby County >> Normal >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Normal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Normal 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 Normal:
    • 35.116201, -89.936755
    • 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 Normal
  • 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Since Normal is near Crittenden County and also DeSoto County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crittenden County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeSoto 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 Normal

Communities Also Named Normal ...

We found seven communities that are also named Normal.

Within Tennessee, the name Normal is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Madison County
      • This Normal is located in Madison County and lies 191 miles [307.4 km]<1> to the east of the Normal that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Normal.
    • Illinois
      • McLean County
      • This Normal is located in McLean County and lies 376 miles [605.1 km]<1> to the north of the Normal that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLean County community of Normal.
    • Indiana
      • Grant County
      • This Normal is located in Grant County and lies 432 miles [695.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Normal that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Normal.
    • Kentucky
      • Boyd County
      • This Normal is located in Boyd County and lies 465 miles [748.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Normal that is located in Shelby County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boyd County community of Normal.
      • Calloway 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 Kentucky community of Normal [Calloway County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Carbon 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 Pennsylvania community of Normal [Carbon County].
    • Virginia
      • Rockingham 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 Virginia community of Normal [Rockingham County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Normal ...

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.

  • Booth ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Booth is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booth
  • Cedar Grove ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Chickasaw Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Chickasaw Gardens is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickasaw Gardens
  • Clay ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Clay is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay
  • Greenlaw
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenlaw is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenlaw
  • Greenlawn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Greenlawn is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenlawn
  • Hunt Village
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hunt Village is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Village
    • Estimated population in 2014: 1,234 people
  • Mallory
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mallory is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallory
  • Rosemary Lane
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Rosemary Lane is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemary Lane
  • Rugby
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rugby is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rugby
  • Shadowlawn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Shadowlawn is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadowlawn
  • Stonewall Place
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Stonewall Place is located in Shelby County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall Place

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

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

  • Memphis, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 191 miles [307.4 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Normal to Nashville, 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 756 miles [1,216.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,601 miles [10,623.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,324 miles [11,786.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,200 miles [8,368.6 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Normal) 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 Normal 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 Normal 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 Normal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1162, Longitude: -89.9368       In this case, the coordinates for Normal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.715 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.865 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.279 degrees.