Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in De Soto, we use the following websites to find information relevant to De Soto and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for De Soto
- 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 De Soto:
- 34.258427, -85.173562
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on De Soto
- 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 Floyd County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Floyd County
- Since De Soto is near Bartow County and also Polk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bartow County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named De Soto ...
We found ten communities that share the name De Soto.
There is one other community in Georgia which is also named De Soto.
Beyond Georgia, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Georgia ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near De Soto ...
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.
- Chapel Hill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chapel Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill is located in Floyd County
- Fieldwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east) - Garden Lakes
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Lakes
- Garden Lakes is located in Floyd County
- Horseshoe Bend
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Horseshoe Bend have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horseshoe Bend
- Horseshoe Bend is located in Floyd County
- Maplewood
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Maplewood Park
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maplewood Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood Park
- Maplewood Park is located in Floyd County
- Maplewood Square
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maplewood Square have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood Square
- Maplewood Square is located in Floyd County
- Merry Acres
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merry Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merry Acres
- Merry Acres is located in Floyd County
- Riverside Park
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riverside Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Park
- Riverside Park is located in Floyd County
- Saddle Mountain
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saddle Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saddle Mountain
- Saddle Mountain is located in Floyd County
- Summerville Park
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summerville Park have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville Park
- Summerville Park is located in Floyd County
- Estimated population in 2019: 4,243 people
- Widow Fools Ferry
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Widow Fools Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Widow Fools Ferry
- Widow Fools Ferry is located in Floyd County
How Far From De Soto 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 De Soto 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 community of De Soto once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in De Soto and extending to:
- Rome, which is the Seat of Floyd County, lies just to the East.
- Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies 56 miles [90.1 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from De Soto to Atlanta, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 552 miles [888.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,448 miles [10,377.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,155 miles [11,514.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,032 miles [8,098.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Floyd County: www.floydcountyga.org/
The official website for State of Georgia: https://georgia.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- De Soto) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in De Soto. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2584, Longitude: -85.1736 In this case, the coordinates for De Soto have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 De Soto, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 De Soto 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 De Soto to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.74 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.31 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.476 degrees. |