RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Duval County >> Atlantic Beach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Atlantic Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Atlantic Beach 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 Atlantic Beach:
    • 30.333596, -81.397653
    • 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 Atlantic Beach
  • 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 Duval County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Duval County
    • Since Atlantic Beach is near Saint Johns County and also Nassau County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Johns County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nassau 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 Atlantic Beach

Communities Also Named Atlantic Beach ...

We found four communities that are also named Atlantic Beach.

Within Florida, the name Atlantic Beach is unique.

Beyond Florida, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New York
      • Nassau County
      • This Atlantic Beach is located in Nassau County and lies 828 miles [1,332.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Atlantic Beach that is located in Duval County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Atlantic Beach.
    • North Carolina
      • Carteret County
      • This Atlantic Beach is located in Carteret County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Atlantic Beach that is located in Duval County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carteret County community of Atlantic Beach.
    • Rhode Island
      • Washington 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 Rhode Island community of Atlantic Beach [Washington County].
    • South Carolina
      • Horry County
      • This Atlantic Beach is located in Horry County and lies 286 miles [460.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Atlantic Beach that is located in Duval County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Horry County community of Atlantic Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Atlantic Beach ...

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.

  • Donner
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Donner is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donner
  • Greenfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Holiday Harbor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Holiday Harbor is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Harbor
  • Isle of Palms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Isle of Palms is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Palms
  • Isle of Palms South
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Isle of Palms South is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Palms South
  • John McQueen Grant
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • John McQueen Grant is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John McQueen Grant
  • John Mestre Grant
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • John Mestre Grant is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John Mestre Grant
  • Mayport
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Oak Landing is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Landing
  • Wonderwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Wonderwood is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wonderwood

How Far From Atlantic Beach to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Atlantic Beach to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Jacksonville, which is the Seat of Duval County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Atlantic Beach to Jacksonville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of 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 171 miles [275.2 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 640 miles [1,030 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,463 miles [10,401.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,140 miles [11,490.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,033 miles [8,099.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Atlantic Beach) 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 Atlantic Beach 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 Atlantic Beach 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 Atlantic Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.3336, Longitude: -81.3977    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.412 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.074 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.015 degrees.