RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Polk County >> Lake Hamilton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lake Hamilton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lake Hamilton 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 Lake Hamilton:
    • 28.045120, -81.623443
    • 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 Lake Hamilton
  • 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Since Lake Hamilton is near Osceola County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Osceola County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Lake Hamilton

Communities Also Named Lake Hamilton ...

We found one communities that are also named Lake Hamilton.

Within Florida, the name Lake Hamilton is unique.

Beyond Florida, there is another community also named Lake Hamilton in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Garland County
      • This Lake Hamilton is located in Garland County and lies 807 miles [1,298.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lake Hamilton that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garland County community of Lake Hamilton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lake Hamilton ...

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.

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

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

  • Bartow, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lake Hamilton to Bartow, with an average speed<3> 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 five to six hours.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 230 miles [370.1 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 794 miles [1,277.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,576 miles [10,583 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,242 miles [11,654.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,143 miles [8,276.9 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lake Hamilton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Lake Hamilton 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 Lake Hamilton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.0451, Longitude: -81.6234    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.397 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.74 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.607 degrees.