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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Highland Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Highland 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 Highland Beach:
    • 26.401795, -80.065631
    • 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 Highland 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 Palm Beach County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Palm Beach County
    • Since Highland Beach is near Broward County and also Miami-Dade County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Broward County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Miami-Dade 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 Highland Beach

Communities Also Named Highland Beach ...

We found seven communities that are also named Highland Beach.

Within Florida, the name Highland Beach 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 ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Highland Beach is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 889 miles [1,430.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Highland Beach that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Highland Beach.
    • New Jersey
      • Monmouth 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 New Jersey community of Highland Beach [Monmouth County].
    • New York
      • Cayuga County
      • This Highland Beach is located in Cayuga County and lies 1,155 miles [1,858.8 km]<1> to the north of the Highland Beach that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cayuga County community of Highland Beach.
    • Oklahoma
      • Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma community of Highland Beach [Oklahoma County].
    • Ontario
      • This Highland Beach lies 1,224 miles [1,969.8 km]<1> to the north of the Highland Beach that is located in Palm Beach County.
    • Rhode Island
      • Kent County
      • This Highland Beach is located in Kent County and lies 1,165 miles [1,874.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Highland Beach that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Highland Beach.
    • Wisconsin
      • Calumet County
      • This Highland Beach is located in Calumet County and lies 1,311 miles [2,109.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Highland Beach that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calumet County community of Highland Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Highland 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.

  • Caribbean Key
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Caribbean Key is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caribbean Key
  • Chapel Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • College Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • College Park is located in Broward County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Dunes Road
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Dunes Road is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunes Road
  • Gulf Stream
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Gulf Stream is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Stream
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 988 people
  • High Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • High Point is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Kings Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Kings Point is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Point
  • Kingsland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Kingsland is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsland
  • Paradise Palms
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Paradise Palms is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Palms
  • Royal Oak Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Royal Oak Hills is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Oak Hills
  • Tropic Isle
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Tropic Isle is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tropic Isle
  • University Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • University Park is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Park

How Far From Highland Beach to ...

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

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

  • West Palm Beach, which is the Seat of Palm Beach County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Highland Beach to West Palm Beach, 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 most of a day.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 378 miles [608.3 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 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 880 miles [1,416.2 km] to the north (N). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,575 miles [10,581.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,226 miles [11,629.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,142 miles [8,275.2 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Highland 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 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 Highland 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 Highland 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 Highland Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.4018, Longitude: -80.0656    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.487 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.463 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.491 degrees.