RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Hillsborough County >> Pelican Island >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pelican Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pelican Island 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 Pelican Island:
    • 27.973800, -82.562800
    • 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 Pelican Island
  • 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 Hillsborough County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hillsborough County
    • Since Pelican Island is near Pinellas County and also Pasco County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinellas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pasco 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 Pelican Island

Communities Also Named Pelican Island ...

We found one communities that are also named Pelican Island.

Within Florida, the name Pelican Island is unique.

Beyond Florida, there is another community also named Pelican Island in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Jersey
      • Ocean 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 New Jersey community of Pelican Island [Ocean County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pelican Island ...

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.

  • Canal Shores
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Canal Shores is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canal Shores
  • Cloverdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cloverdale is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Cornerstone Plaza
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cornerstone Plaza is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornerstone Plaza
  • Crestridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Crestridge is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crestridge
  • Dana Shores
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Dana Shores is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dana Shores
  • Fountain Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fountain Park is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Park
  • Holiday Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Holiday Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Village
  • Holly Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Holly Park is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Park
  • Paradise
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Paradise is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise
  • Rainbow Court
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rainbow Court is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Court
  • Rocky Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocky Creek is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Creek
  • Rocky Ford
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Rocky Point Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Rocky Point Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point Village
    • Sweetwater
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sweetwater is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
    • Sweetwater Creek
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sweetwater Creek is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater Creek
    • Sweetwater Farms
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sweetwater Farms is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater Farms
    • Sweetwater Terrace
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sweetwater Terrace is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater Terrace
    • Twelve Oaks Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Twelve Oaks Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twelve Oaks Village
    • Venetian Shores
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Venetian Shores is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venetian Shores
    • Waterfront Cove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Waterfront Cove is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterfront Cove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Pelican Island and extending to:

  • Tampa, which is the Seat of Hillsborough County, lies just to the East.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Pelican Island to Tallahassee, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 818 miles [1,316.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,623 miles [10,658.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,292 miles [11,735.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,191 miles [8,354.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Pelican Island 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pelican Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Pelican Island 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 Pelican Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.9738, Longitude: -82.5628       In this case, the coordinates for Pelican Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.885 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.295 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.919 degrees.