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










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Florida

The Commemorative Quarter for Florida





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Forest 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 River Forest:
    • 29.013318, -81.391732
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on River Forest
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named River Forest ...

We found six communities that share the name River Forest.

Within Florida, the name River Forest is unique.

Beyond Florida, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Fayette County
      • This River Forest is located in Fayette County and lies 361 miles [581 km]<1> to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of River Forest.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This River Forest is located in Cook County and lies 959 miles [1,543.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of River Forest.
      • Winnebago County
      • This River Forest is located in Winnebago County and lies 1,009 miles [1,623.8 km] to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winnebago County community of River Forest.
    • Indiana
      • Madison County
      • This River Forest is located in Madison County and lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of River Forest.
    • Maryland
      • Prince George's 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 Maryland community of River Forest [Prince George's County].
    • South Carolina
      • Spartanburg County
      • This River Forest is located in Spartanburg County and lies 416 miles [669.5 km]<1> to the north of the River Forest that is located in Lake County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spartanburg County community of River Forest.

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Forest ...

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.

  • Chain O'Lakes
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chain O'Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chain O'Lakes
    • Chain O'Lakes is located in Lake County
  • Crows Bluff
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crows Bluff have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows Bluff
    • Crows Bluff is located in Lake County
  • Daisy Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Daisy Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisy Lake
    • Daisy Lake is located in Volusia County
  • Fullerville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fullerville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullerville
    • Fullerville is located in Lake County
  • Lake Helen
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Mosquito Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mosquito Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosquito Grove
    • Mosquito Grove is located in Lake County
  • Orange City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Paisley
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Tavares, which is the Seat of Lake County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from River Forest to Tavares, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 199 miles [320.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 726 miles [1,168.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,522 miles [10,496.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,192 miles [11,574.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,090 miles [8,191.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for River Forest. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Lake County: www.lakegovernment.com/

The official website for State of Florida: www.myflorida.com/

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 drawn from Point A (ie- River Forest) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in River Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.0133, Longitude: -81.3917       In this case, the coordinates for River Forest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 River Forest 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 River Forest to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.338 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.805 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.32 degrees.




 

Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024