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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Joshua, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Joshua 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 Joshua:
    • 27.207827, -81.733136
    • 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 Joshua
  • 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 DeSoto County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeSoto County
    • Since Joshua is near Hardee County and also Highlands County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hardee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Highlands 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 Joshua

Communities Also Named Joshua ...

We found seven communities that are also named Joshua.

Within Florida, the name Joshua is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Joshua is located in San Bernardino County and lies 2,055 miles [3,307.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Joshua that is located in DeSoto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Joshua.
    • Kentucky
      • Owsley 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 Joshua [Owsley County].
    • New York
      • Onondaga County
      • This Joshua is located in Onondaga County and lies 1,127 miles [1,813.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Joshua that is located in DeSoto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Joshua.
    • North Carolina
      • Lenoir 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 North Carolina community of Joshua [Lenoir County].
    • South Carolina
      • Charleston County
      • This Joshua is located in Charleston County and lies 403 miles [648.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Joshua that is located in DeSoto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charleston County community of Joshua.
    • Tennessee
      • McMinn 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 Tennessee community of Joshua [McMinn County].
    • Texas
      • Johnson County
      • This Joshua is located in Johnson County and lies 1,003 miles [1,614.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Joshua that is located in DeSoto County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Joshua.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Joshua ...

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.

  • Belgium ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Belgium is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belgium
  • Bridges
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bridges is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridges
  • Crewsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
  • Cubitis
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Cubitis is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cubitis
  • Hull
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hull is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hull
  • Limestone
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Limestone is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limestone
  • Pine Level
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Pine Level is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
  • Sparkman
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Sparkman is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkman
  • Sweetwater
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Sweetwater is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
  • Tryon
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Tryon is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tryon

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

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

  • Arcadia, which is the Seat of DeSoto County, lies just to the West.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 271 miles [436.1 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Joshua to Tallahassee, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 851 miles [1,369.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,619 miles [10,652.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,280 miles [11,716 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,186 miles [8,346.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Joshua) 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 Joshua 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 Joshua 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 Joshua. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.2078, Longitude: -81.7331       In this case, the coordinates for Joshua have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.392 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.619 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.816 degrees.