JUPITER: Probably the most frequent question we receive is how Jupiter got it's name. Many think the name was derived from the Celestial Railway or some significant astronomy event.

Actually, it came down to simple phonetics and a propensity by our ancestors to Anglicize words. Most historians agree that the name JUPITER had its origin during the time the British controlled Florida between 1763-1783. Spain had ceded Florida to Britain at that time and when the British examined the Spanish maps for this area, they found Rio Jobe as our local river. It is believed that the Spanish named the area Jobe after the native residents (the Jobe [HO-bay] Indians). By the way, this is where Hobe Sound got its name. However, a map dated 1742 had it listed as Rio Jove.

The British had a tendency to anglicize most of the words they found and changed Jove (the Roman name for Zeus) to their version called Jupiter. Later, during the American period , Juno was added as she was Jupiter's consort.

Later the Celestial Railroad would take it's unofficial name from the the sites it traveled between Jupiter and Juno such as Venus, Mars and Neptune.