English: The James Wylie Shepherd Observatory is located roughly three miles from the University of Montevallo on the 150-acre Gentry Springs site owned by the university. The site offers excellent dark-sky observing in a convenient locale. It is the most state-of-the-art astronomical facility in Alabama. The JWSO is capable of world-class astronomical telescopic observation and astrophotography, has a dedicated telescope for solar viewing, and is one of very few observatories in the country that is designed specifically to be completely accessible to people of all disabilities.