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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ivan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ivan 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 Ivan:
    • 30.223535, -84.362122
    • 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 Ivan
  • 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 Wakulla County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wakulla County
    • Since Ivan is near Leon County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Leon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Ivan

Communities Also Named Ivan ...

We found seven communities that are also named Ivan.

Within Florida, the name Ivan 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 three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Dallas County
      • This Ivan is located in Dallas County and lies 535 miles [861 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ivan that is located in Wakulla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Ivan.
    • Kentucky
      • Knott 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 Kentucky community of Ivan [Knott County].
    • Louisiana
      • Bossier Parish
      • This Ivan is located in Bossier Parish and lies 568 miles [914.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ivan that is located in Wakulla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bossier Parish community of Ivan.
    • Michigan
      • Kalkaska 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 Michigan community of Ivan [Kalkaska County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Ivan.
    • Texas
      • Stephens County
      • This Ivan is located in Stephens County and lies 864 miles [1,390.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ivan that is located in Wakulla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stephens County community of Ivan.
    • West Virginia
      • Wirt County
      • This Ivan is located in Wirt County and lies 628 miles [1,010.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Ivan that is located in Wakulla County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wirt County community of Ivan.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ivan ...

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.

  • Four Points
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Four Points is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Points
  • Helen
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Helen is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen
  • Henrietta
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Henrietta is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrietta
  • Live Oak Island
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Live Oak Island is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Live Oak Island
  • Mount Pleasant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Panacea
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Panacea Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Panacea Park is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panacea Park
  • Plum Orchard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Plum Orchard is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Orchard
  • Shadeville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Shadeville is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadeville
  • Shell Island
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Shell Island is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Island
  • Skipper
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Skipper is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skipper
  • Sopchoppy
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Spring Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Spring Creek is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek

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

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

  • Crawfordville, which is the Seat of Wakulla County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Ivan to Tallahassee, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 728 miles [1,171.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,601 miles [10,623.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,288 miles [11,728.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,174 miles [8,326.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Ivan) 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 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 Ivan 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Ivan 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 Ivan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.2235, Longitude: -84.3621       In this case, the coordinates for Ivan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.036 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.935 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.065 degrees.