Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Erie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Erie and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Erie
- 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 Erie:
- 27.571147, -82.478151
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Erie
- 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 Manatee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Manatee County
- Since Erie is near Hillsborough County and also Sarasota County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hillsborough County
- eBird sighting report for Sarasota 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Erie ...
We found 24 communities that share the name Erie.
Within Florida, the name Erie is unique.
Beyond Florida, we know of another 24 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 24 communities, 22 are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- British Columbia
- This Erie lies 2,370 miles [3,814.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- California
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Lawrence County
- This Erie is located in Lawrence County and lies 812 miles [1,306.8 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lawrence County community of Erie.
- Miami County
- This Erie is located in Miami County and lies 935 miles [1,504.7 km] to the north of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami County community of Erie.
- Kansas
- Cowley County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Erie [Cowley County].
- Neosho County
- This Erie is located in Neosho County and lies 1,012 miles [1,628.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Neosho County community of Erie.
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Becker County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Erie [Becker County].
- Pennington County
- This Erie is located in Pennington County and lies 1,583 miles [2,547.6 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pennington County community of Erie.
- Missouri
- Camden County
- This community is historic<1> and although located in Camden County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Camden County community of Erie.
- McDonald County
- This Erie is located in McDonald County and lies 937 miles [1,508 km]<2> to the northwest of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDonald County community of Erie.
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Kay County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Erie [Kay County].
- Kingfisher County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Erie [Kingfisher County].
- Ontario
- This Erie lies 1,067 miles [1,717.2 km]<2> to the north of the Erie that is located in Manatee County.
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Erie ...
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.
- Fort Lonely
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fort Lonely have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Lonely
- Fort Lonely is located in Hillsborough County
- Foxleigh
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Fullers Earth
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fullers Earth have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullers Earth
- Fullers Earth is located in Manatee County
- Manatee
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Piney Point
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Piney Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Point
- Piney Point is located in Manatee County
- River Bend
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for River Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Bend
- River Bend is located in Hillsborough County
- Solitude
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Sun City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun City
- Sun City is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sun City <5>
- Sundance
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast) - Twin Lake
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Winding Creek
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Winding Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding Creek
- Winding Creek is located in Hillsborough County
How Far From Erie 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 community such as Erie to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Erie and extending to:
- Bradenton, which is the Seat of Manatee County, lies just to the Southwest.
- Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 225 miles [362.1 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Erie to Tallahassee, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 842 miles [1,355.1 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,637 miles [10,681.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,304 miles [11,754.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,205 miles [8,376.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Erie. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Manatee County: www.co.manatee.fl.us/
The official website for State of Florida: www.myflorida.com/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Erie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Erie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Erie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.5711, Longitude: -82.4782 In this case, the coordinates for Erie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Erie 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Erie to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.809 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.151 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.973 degrees. |