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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Topocapa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Topocapa 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 Topocapa:
    • 30.150207, -84.016552
    • 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 Topocapa
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Topocapa is near Taylor County and also Wakulla County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Taylor County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wakulla 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 Topocapa

Curious and Interesting Names Near Topocapa ...

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.

  • Cabbage Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cabbage Grove is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cabbage Grove
  • Cody
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Cody is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cody
  • Corey
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Corey is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corey
  • Limestone
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Limestone is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limestone
  • Live Oak Island
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Live Oak Island is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Live Oak Island
  • Plum Orchard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Plum Orchard is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Orchard
  • Roach
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Roach is located in Taylor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roach
  • Rose
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Rose is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose
  • Shadeville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Shadeville is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadeville
  • Shell Island
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Shell Island is located in Wakulla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Island

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Topocapa once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Topocapa and extending to:

  • Monticello, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Topocapa to Monticello, with an average speed<3> 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 just over a day.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest (NW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 722 miles [1,161.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,589 miles [10,604 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,274 miles [11,706.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,161 miles [8,305.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Topocapa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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- Topocapa) 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 Topocapa 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 Topocapa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1502, Longitude: -84.0166       In this case, the coordinates for Topocapa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.838 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.696 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.958 degrees.