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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Port, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Port 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 Port:
    • 27.870400, -82.528000
    • 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 Port
  • 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 West Port is near Pinellas County and also Manatee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinellas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Manatee 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 Port

Communities Also Named West Port ...

We found two communities that are also named West Port.

Within Florida, the name West Port is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Kingman 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 Kansas community of West Port [Kingman County].
    • Mississippi
      • Lowndes County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of West Port [Lowndes County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Port ...

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.

  • Colony Key
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Colony Key is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony Key
  • Crescent Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Crescent Park is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Fosterville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Fosterville is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fosterville
  • Friendship Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Friendship Heights is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship Heights
  • Half Way Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Half Way Place is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Way Place
  • Harbor Shores
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Harbor Shores is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Shores
  • Jenkins
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jenkins is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
  • Meadowlawn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Meadowlawn is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlawn
  • Nix
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Nix is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nix
  • Oak Shadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Oak Shadows is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shadows
  • Palm Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Palm Grove is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Grove
  • Rattlesnake
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Rattlesnake is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rattlesnake
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Regency Cove
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Regency Cove is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Cove
    • Robinson Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Robinson Heights is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robinson Heights
    • Rocky Shore
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Rocky Shore is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Shore
    • Ronnie Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Ronnie Place is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ronnie Place
    • Shell Point
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shell Point is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point
    • Skinners
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Skinners is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skinners
    • Speedway Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Speedway Place is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedway Place
    • Sunset
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Sunset is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset
    • Temple Square
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Temple Square is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Square
    • Treasure Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Treasure Park is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treasure Park
    • Tropical Pines
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Tropical Pines is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tropical Pines
    • Tropical Terrace
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Tropical Terrace is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tropical Terrace

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in West Port and extending to:

  • Tampa, which is the Seat of Hillsborough County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 206 miles [331.5 km]<3> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from West Port to Tallahassee, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 824 miles [1,326.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,626 miles [10,663.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,294 miles [11,738.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,194 miles [8,358.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 West Port 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>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 West Port, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- West Port) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Port 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 Port. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.8704, Longitude: -82.5280       In this case, the coordinates for West Port have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.859 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.25 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.929 degrees.