RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Riverside County >> Homeland >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Homeland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Homeland 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 Homeland:
    • 33.743413, -117.109119
    • 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 Homeland
  • 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 Riverside County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Riverside County
    • Since Homeland is near San Bernardino County and also Orange County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Bernardino County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange 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 Homeland

Communities Also Named Homeland ...

We found nine communities that are also named Homeland.

Within California, the name Homeland is unique.

Beyond California, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Polk County
      • This Homeland is located in Polk County and lies 2,122 miles [3,415 km]<1> to the east of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Homeland.
    • Georgia
      • Brooks 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 Georgia community of Homeland [Brooks County].
      • Charlton County
      • This Homeland is located in Charlton County and lies 2,047 miles [3,294.3 km]<1> to the east of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charlton County community of Homeland.
    • Hawaii
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore City
      • This Homeland is located in Baltimore City and lies 2,259 miles [3,635.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore City community of Homeland.
    • Missouri
      • Howell County
      • This Homeland is located in Howell County and lies 1,431 miles [2,303 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howell County community of Homeland.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster County
      • This Homeland is located in Lancaster County and lies 2,275 miles [3,661.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Homeland.
    • Virginia
      • Culpeper County
      • This Homeland is located in Culpeper County and lies 2,187 miles [3,519.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Culpeper County community of Homeland.
    • West Virginia
      • Lewis County
      • This Homeland is located in Lewis County and lies 2,058 miles [3,312 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Homeland that is located in Riverside County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Homeland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Homeland ...

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.

  • Eden
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Eden is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Good Hope
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Good Hope is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
  • Green Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Green Acres is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Juniper Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Juniper Springs is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniper Springs
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lakeview is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lakeview Hot Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lakeview Hot Springs is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Hot Springs
  • Quail Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Romoland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Sun City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Valley Vista
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Valley Vista is located in Riverside County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Vista

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

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

  • Riverside, which is the Seat of Riverside County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Homeland to Riverside, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 413 miles [664.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,239 miles [3,603.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 88 days and walking would take 128 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,560 miles [12,166.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,328 miles [13,402.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,306 miles [10,148.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Homeland) 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 Homeland 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 Homeland 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 Homeland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7434, Longitude: -117.1091    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.257 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 334.926 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.974 degrees.