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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Straits, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Straits 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 Straits:
    • 28.056600, -82.297300
    • 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 Straits
  • 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 Straits is near Pasco County and also Polk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pasco County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk 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 Straits

Communities Also Named Straits ...

We found two communities that are also named Straits.

Within Florida, the name Straits is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Oakland 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 Michigan community of Straits [Oakland County].
    • North Carolina
      • Carteret County
      • This Straits is located in Carteret County and lies 570 miles [917.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Straits that is located in Hillsborough County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carteret County community of Straits.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Straits ...

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.

  • Clark
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Clark is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark
  • Clarkwild
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Clarkwild is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarkwild
  • Cousins Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Cousins Corner is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cousins Corner
  • Flint Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Flint Lake is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Lake
  • Harris Landings
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Harris Landings is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Landings
  • June Bloom
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • June Bloom is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for June Bloom
  • Lee
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Lee is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee
  • Pilgrims Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Pilgrims Place is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilgrims Place
  • Sam Mills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Sam Mills is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sam Mills
  • Stonelake Ranch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Stonelake Ranch is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonelake Ranch
  • Terrace Highlands
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Terrace Highlands is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrace Highlands
  • Thousand Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Thousand Oaks is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thousand Oaks
  • Winners Circle
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Winners Circle is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winners Circle
  • Ye Little Wood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Ye Little Wood is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ye Little Wood

How Far From Straits to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Straits to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Tampa, which is the Seat of Hillsborough County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Straits to Tampa, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 203 miles [326.7 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 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 807 miles [1,298.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,607 miles [10,632.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,275 miles [11,708 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,175 miles [8,328.4 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Straits 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Straits) 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 Straits 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 Straits. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.0566, Longitude: -82.2973       In this case, the coordinates for Straits have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.752 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.151 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.818 degrees.