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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in The Hammock, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Hammock 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 The Hammock:
    • 27.884600, -82.485200
    • 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 The Hammock
  • 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 The Hammock is near Pinellas County and also Manatee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinellas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Manatee 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 The Hammock

Communities Also Named The Hammock ...

We found four communities that are also named The Hammock.

There is one other community in Florida that is also named The Hammock.

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

  • Communities Located In Florida ...
    • Alachua County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of The Hammock [Alachua County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Hamilton County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of The Hammock [Hamilton County].
    • Kentucky
      • Garrard County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of The Hammock [Garrard County].
    • Louisiana
      • Ouachita Parish
      • This The Hammock is located in Ouachita Parish and lies 657 miles [1,057.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the The Hammock that is located in Hillsborough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ouachita Parish community of The Hammock.

Curious and Interesting Names Near The Hammock ...

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.

  • Colony Key
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Colony Key is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony Key
  • Crescent Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Crescent Park is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Fosterville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fosterville is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fosterville
  • Friendship Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Friendship Heights is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship Heights
  • Half Way Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Half Way Place is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Way Place
  • Jenkins
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jenkins is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Knights Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Knights Landing is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knights Landing
  • Meadowlawn
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Meadowlawn is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlawn
  • Nix
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Nix is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nix
  • Oak Shadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Oak Shadows is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shadows
  • Palm Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Palm Grove is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Grove
  • Rocky Shore
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Rocky Shore is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Shore
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Ronnie Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Ronnie Place is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ronnie Place
    • Shell Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Shell Point is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
    • Skinners
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Skinners is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skinners
    • Speedway Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Speedway Place is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedway Place
    • Sunset
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Sunset is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Temple Square
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Temple Square is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Square
    • Treasure Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Treasure Park is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treasure Park
    • Tropical Pines
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Tropical Pines is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tropical Pines
    • Tropical Terrace
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Tropical Terrace is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tropical Terrace

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

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

  • Tampa, which is the Seat of Hillsborough County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 206 miles [331.5 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from The Hammock to Tallahassee, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 822 miles [1,322.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,623 miles [10,658.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,291 miles [11,733.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,191 miles [8,354.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 The Hammock 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.
<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- The Hammock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 The Hammock 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 The Hammock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.8846, Longitude: -82.4852       In this case, the coordinates for The Hammock have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.837 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.227 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.913 degrees.