RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Alachua County >> West Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Park 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 West Park:
    • 29.668300, -82.401774
    • 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 West Park
  • 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 Alachua County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alachua County
    • Since West Park is near Bradford County and also Marion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bradford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion 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 West Park

Communities Also Named West Park ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named West Park.

There are two communities within Florida that are also named West Park.

Beyond Florida, we know of thirteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these thirteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Florida ...
    • Broward County
      • This West Park is located in Broward County and lies 288 miles [463.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of West Park.
    • Hillsborough County
      • This West Park is located in Hillsborough County and lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<1> to the south of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of West Park.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Fresno County
      • This West Park is located in Fresno County and lies 2,203 miles [3,545.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fresno County community of West Park.
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This West Park is located in New Castle County and lies 795 miles [1,279.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of West Park.
    • New York
      • Ulster County
      • This West Park is located in Ulster County and lies 960 miles [1,545 km]<1> to the north northeast of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ulster County community of West Park.
    • Ohio
      • Cuyahoga 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 Ohio community of West Park [Cuyahoga County].
      • Hancock County
      • This West Park is located in Hancock County and lies 786 miles [1,264.9 km]<1> to the north of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of West Park.
      • Jefferson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of West Park [Jefferson County].
      • Stark County
      • This West Park is located in Stark County and lies 769 miles [1,237.6 km] to the north of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stark County community of West Park.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This West Park is located in Allegheny County and lies 757 miles [1,218.3 km]<1> to the north of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of West Park.
      • Philadelphia 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 Pennsylvania community of West Park [Philadelphia County].
    • Quebec
      • This West Park lies 1,187 miles [1,910.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
    • Texas
      • Harris 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 Texas community of West Park [Harris County].
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke City
      • This West Park is located in Roanoke City and lies 544 miles [875.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of West Park.
    • Washington
      • Kitsap County
      • This West Park is located in Kitsap County and lies 2,461 miles [3,960.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the West Park that is located in Alachua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kitsap County community of West Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Park ...

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.

  • Clinch
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Clinch is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinch
  • J S Sanchez and Others Grant
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • John H McIntosh Grant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jonesville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Paradise
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Paradise is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise
  • Riceland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Riceland is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riceland
  • Robinson Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Robinson Heights is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Heights
  • Robinswood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Robinswood is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinswood
  • Rocky Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Rocky Point is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point
  • Suburban Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Suburban Heights is located in Alachua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suburban Heights

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

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

  • Gainesville, which is the Seat of Alachua County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 124 miles [199.6 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from West Park to Tallahassee, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 706 miles [1,136.2 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,539 miles [10,523.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,216 miles [11,613 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,108 miles [8,220.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- West Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 West Park 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 West Park 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 West Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.6683, Longitude: -82.4018       In this case, the coordinates for West Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.918 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.567 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.507 degrees.