RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Hillsborough County >> Amanda >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Amanda, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Amanda 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 Amanda:
    • 27.699500, -82.435900
    • 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 Amanda
  • 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 Hillsborough County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hillsborough County
    • Since Amanda is near Manatee County and also Pinellas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Manatee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinellas 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 Amanda

Communities Also Named Amanda ...

We found seven communities that are also named Amanda.

Within Florida, the name Amanda is unique.

Beyond Florida, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Missouri
      • Crawford County
      • This Amanda is located in Crawford County and lies 883 miles [1,421.1 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Amanda that is located in Hillsborough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of Amanda.
    • Ohio
      • Butler 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 Ohio community of Amanda [Butler County].
      • Fairfield County
      • This Amanda is located in Fairfield County and lies 825 miles [1,327.7 km]<1> to the north of the Amanda that is located in Hillsborough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Amanda.
    • Tennessee
      • White 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 Tennessee community of Amanda [White County].
    • Texas
      • Kinney County
      • This Amanda is located in Kinney County and lies 1,110 miles [1,786.4 km]<1> to the west of the Amanda that is located in Hillsborough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kinney County community of Amanda.
    • West Virginia
      • Grant 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 West Virginia community of Amanda [Grant County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Amanda ...

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.

  • College Chase
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • College Chase is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Chase
  • Green Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Green Acres is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Gulf City
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Gulf City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf City
  • Gull Haven
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Gull Haven is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gull Haven
  • Kims Cove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Kims Cove is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kims Cove
  • Leon
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Leon is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
  • Manatee Harbor
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Manatee Harbor is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manatee Harbor
  • Mays
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Mays is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mays
  • Netherland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Netherland is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Netherland
  • Pelican Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Pelican Point is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pelican Point
  • Pirates Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Pirates Point is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pirates Point
  • River Bend
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • River Bend is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bend
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Sable Cove
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Sable Cove is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sable Cove
    • Sandpiper Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sandpiper Point is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandpiper Point
    • Shooks Folly
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shooks Folly is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shooks Folly
    • Solitude
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Solitude is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solitude
    • Twin Lake
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Twin Lake is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lake
    • Winding Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Winding Creek is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Creek
    • Wolf Branch
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Wolf Branch is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Branch

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

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

  • Tampa, which is the Seat of Hillsborough County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Amanda to Tampa, with an average speed<3> 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 five to six hours.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 219 miles [352.4 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 833 miles [1,340.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,629 miles [10,668.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,296 miles [11,741.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,197 miles [8,363.8 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- Amanda) 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 Amanda 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 Amanda 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 Amanda. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.6995, Longitude: -82.4359       In this case, the coordinates for Amanda have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.797 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.154 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.934 degrees.