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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ocoee, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ocoee 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 Ocoee:
    • 28.570589, -81.544155
    • 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 Ocoee
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Ocoee is near Lake County and also Seminole County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Seminole 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 Ocoee

Communities Also Named Ocoee ...

We found two communities that are also named Ocoee.

Within Florida, the name Ocoee is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Reno 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 Ocoee [Reno County].
    • Tennessee
      • Polk County
      • This Ocoee is located in Polk County and lies 489 miles [787 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Ocoee that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Ocoee.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ocoee ...

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.

  • Castle Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Castle Hill is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
  • Crown Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Crown Point is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crown Point
  • Doctor Phillips
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Doctor Phillips is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doctor Phillips
  • Forest City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest City is located in Seminole County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
  • Fullers
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fullers is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullers
  • Lake Apopka
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lake Apopka is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Apopka
  • Lake Butter
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lake Butter is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Butter
  • Minorville ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Paradise Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Paradise Heights is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Heights
  • Plymouth
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Sand Lake
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Tangelo Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Tangelo Park is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tangelo Park
  • Waits Junction
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Winter Garden
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Orlando, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ocoee to Orlando, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 208 miles [334.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 758 miles [1,219.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,549 miles [10,539.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,217 miles [11,614.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,117 miles [8,235 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 Ocoee 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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ocoee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ocoee 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 Ocoee. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.5706, Longitude: -81.5442    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.391 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.805 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.468 degrees.