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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Hillcrest Heights (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Hillcrest Heights. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Hillcrest Heights ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Hillcrest Heights: Hillcrest Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)

You might be interested in other communities that are also named Hillcrest Heights. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Hillcrest Heights.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Hillcrest Heights is located in Polk County.

To see how the shape of Florida's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Polk County: Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco & Sumter.

Below are the counties that are near Hillcrest Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Hillcrest Heights:

  • Polk County     (The home county of Hillcrest Heights)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.
    • Babson Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Highland Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Highland Park is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Crooked Lake Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Crooked Lake Park is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake Park
    • Frostproof
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Nalcrest
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lake Wales
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakeshore
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Indian Lake Estates
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Waverly
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pittsburg
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
      • Pittsburg is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsburg
    • Alturas
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Cox Corner ‑ Historic
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Cox Corner is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cox Corner
  • Hardee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.
    • Bowling Green
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wauchula
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Zolfo Springs
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Crewsville
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
  • Highlands County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.
    • Alpine
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Alpine is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Avon Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Sebring
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • De Soto City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
      • De Soto City is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto City
  • Osceola County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.
    • Poinciana Place
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Poinciana Place is located in Osceola County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poinciana Place
    • Poinciana
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Campbell
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Campbell is located in Osceola County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbell
    • ChampionsGate
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • ChampionsGate is located in Osceola County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for ChampionsGate
    • Intercession City
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Hillcrest Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Hillcrest Heights.

Cemeteries Near Hillcrest Heights ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Hillcrest Heights.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Hillcrest Heights - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Hillcrest Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.

  • Biscuit Lake Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Garden Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Lake Wales Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Silver Hill Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Silver Hill Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<3> to the south of Frostproof.
    • The Silver Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Silver Lake Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72619 <2>
  • Willow Lawn Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Eden Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Eden Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<3> to the west of Frostproof.
    • The Eden Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Little Eden Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #71928 <2>
  • Lake Buffum Baptist Church Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Corinth Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinth Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Corinth Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<3> to the northwest of Avon Park.
    • The Corinth Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Bereah Cemetery
    • Corinth Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2242863 <2>
  • Friendship MB Church Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Wahneta Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Pleasant Grove Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (65 more) ...
    • Bougainvillea Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Fortner Family Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Evergreen Cemetery
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

While we didn't find Hillcrest Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Hillcrest Heights.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Hillcrest Heights, with the one closest to Hillcrest Heights listed first.

  • Wahneta
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Wahneta is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahneta
  • Avon Park
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Fort Meade
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Eagle Lake
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Homeland
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Winter Haven
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Gordonville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Gordonville is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordonville
  • Bartow
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Haines City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Bowling Green
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Auburndale
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Wauchula
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Zolfo Springs
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Crewsville
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Hillcrest Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Hillcrest Heights.

Newspapers Published in Hillcrest Heights ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 76 newspapers that have been published in the area around Hillcrest Heights.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Hillcrest Heights, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Hillcrest Heights.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Hillcrest Heights:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<3>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- Hillcrest Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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 Hillcrest Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.