RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Gulf County >> Iola >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Iola, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iola and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Iola:
    • 30.148811, -85.165194
    • 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 Iola
  • 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 Gulf County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gulf County
    • Since Iola is near Liberty County and also Calhoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Liberty County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun 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 Iola

Communities Also Named Iola ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Iola.

There is one other community in Florida that is also named Iola.

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

  • Communities Located In Florida ...
    • Calhoun 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 Iola [Calhoun County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Covington 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 Alabama community of Iola [Covington County].
    • Colorado
      • Gunnison County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Iola [Gunnison County].
    • Illinois
      • Clay County
      • This Iola is located in Clay County and lies 631 miles [1,015.5 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Iola.
    • Iowa
      • Pottawattamie County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Iola [Pottawattamie County].
    • Kansas
      • Allen County
      • This Iola is located in Allen County and lies 793 miles [1,276.2 km]<3> to the northwest of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen County community of Iola.
      • Doniphan 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 Kansas community of Iola [Doniphan County].
    • Kentucky
      • Marshall County
      • This Iola is located in Marshall County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Iola.
    • New Mexico
      • Luna County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Luna County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Luna County community of Iola.
    • North Carolina
      • Alamance 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 North Carolina community of Iola [Alamance County].
    • North Dakota
      • Ramsey 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 North Dakota community of Iola [Ramsey County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Columbia County
      • This Iola is located in Columbia County and lies 899 miles [1,446.8 km]<3> to the north northeast of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Iola.
    • South Carolina
      • Anderson 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 South Carolina community of Iola [Anderson County].
    • Texas
      • Grimes County
      • This Iola is located in Grimes County and lies 650 miles [1,046.1 km]<3> to the west of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grimes County community of Iola.
    • West Virginia
      • Roane County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Roane County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Iola.
    • Wisconsin
      • Waupaca County
      • This Iola is located in Waupaca County and lies 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km]<3> to the north of the Iola that is located in Gulf County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waupaca County community of Iola.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Iola ...

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.

  • Bon Ami
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Bon Ami is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bon Ami
  • Early
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Early is located in Gulf County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Early
  • Honeyville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Honeyville is located in Gulf County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeyville
  • Lake Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lake Grove is located in Gulf County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Grove
  • Lewis
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Lewis is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
  • Marysville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Marysville is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
  • Mosquito Landing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Mosquito Landing is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosquito Landing
  • Orange
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Orange is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Owl Landing
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Owl Landing is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owl Landing

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

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

  • Port Saint Joe, which is the Seat of Gulf County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<3> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Iola to Port Saint Joe, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days 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 56 miles [90.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 760 miles [1,223.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 44 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,640 miles [10,686 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,329 miles [11,794.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,214 miles [8,391.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Iola 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>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 Iola, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Iola) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Iola 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 Iola. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1488, Longitude: -85.1652       In this case, the coordinates for Iola have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.482 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.441 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.365 degrees.