RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Duval County >> South Jacksonville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Jacksonville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Jacksonville 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 South Jacksonville:
    • 30.311073, -81.645650
    • 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 South Jacksonville
  • 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 Duval County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Duval County
    • Since South Jacksonville is near Clay County and also Saint Johns County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Johns 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 South Jacksonville

Communities Also Named South Jacksonville ...

We found two communities that are also named South Jacksonville.

Within Florida, the name South Jacksonville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski 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 Arkansas community of South Jacksonville [Pulaski County].
    • Illinois
      • Morgan County
      • This South Jacksonville is located in Morgan County and lies 809 miles [1,302 km]<2> to the northwest of the South Jacksonville that is located in Duval County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of South Jacksonville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Jacksonville ...

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.

  • Chaseville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Chaseville is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaseville
  • College Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • College Park is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Floral Bluff
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Floral Bluff is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floral Bluff
  • Grand Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Crossing is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Crossing
  • Grand Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Park is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Park
  • Hogan
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Hogan is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hogan
  • Holiday Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Holiday Hill is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hill
  • Holly Ford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Holly Ford is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Ford
  • Jonathan Watson Grant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Joseph Fenwick Grant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Joseph Fenwick Grant is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joseph Fenwick Grant
  • Joseph Lowrey Grant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Joseph Lowrey Grant is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joseph Lowrey Grant
  • Lake Shore
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Shore is located in Duval County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shore
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Magnolia Gardens
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Magnolia Gardens is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Gardens
    • Panama Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Panama Park is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama Park
    • Pearl Court
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Pearl Court is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl Court
    • Spring Glen
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Spring Glen is located in Duval County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Glen

How Far From South Jacksonville 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 South Jacksonville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Jacksonville, which is the Seat of Duval County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 157 miles [252.7 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from South Jacksonville to Tallahassee, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 647 miles [1,041.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 37 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,475 miles [10,420.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,153 miles [11,511.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,045 miles [8,119.1 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 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 South Jacksonville 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- South Jacksonville) 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 South Jacksonville 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 South Jacksonville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.3111, Longitude: -81.6457       In this case, the coordinates for South Jacksonville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.545 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.225 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.105 degrees.