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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Palmdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Palmdale 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 Palmdale:
    • 26.945447, -81.316559
    • 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 Palmdale
  • 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 Glades County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Glades County
    • Since Palmdale is near Highlands County and also Hendry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Highlands County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hendry 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 Palmdale

Communities Also Named Palmdale ...

We found four communities that are also named Palmdale.

Within Florida, the name Palmdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Los Angeles County
      • This Palmdale is located in Los Angeles County and lies 2,233 miles [3,593.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Palmdale that is located in Glades County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Palmdale.
      • San Diego 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 California community of Palmdale [San Diego County].
    • Minnesota
      • Chisago County
      • This Palmdale is located in Chisago County and lies 1,424 miles [2,291.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Palmdale that is located in Glades County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chisago County community of Palmdale.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Dauphin County
      • This Palmdale is located in Dauphin County and lies 960 miles [1,545 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Palmdale that is located in Glades County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dauphin County community of Palmdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Palmdale ...

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.

  • Bear Hollow
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Bear Hollow is located in Highlands County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Hollow
  • Childs
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Childs is located in Highlands County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
  • Hall City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Hall City is located in Glades County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall City
  • Harrisburg
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Harrisburg is located in Glades County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Liberty Point
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Liberty Point is located in Glades County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Point
  • Monkey Box
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Monkey Box is located in Glades County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monkey Box
  • Placid Lakes
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Placid Lakes is located in Highlands County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placid Lakes
  • Sparkman
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Sparkman is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkman

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

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

  • Moore Haven, which is the Seat of Glades County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Palmdale to Moore Haven, 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 four to five hours.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 300 miles [482.8 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 861 miles [1,385.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take most of two 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 6,611 miles [10,639.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,270 miles [11,699.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,177 miles [8,331.6 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Palmdale) 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 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 Palmdale 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 Palmdale 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 Palmdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.9454, Longitude: -81.3166    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.158 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.312 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.743 degrees.