RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Contra Costa County >> Somersville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Somersville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Somersville 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 Somersville:
    • 37.956867, -121.864402
    • 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 Somersville
  • 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 Contra Costa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Contra Costa County
    • Since Somersville is near Solano County and also Sacramento County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Solano County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sacramento 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 Somersville

Communities Also Named Somersville ...

We found two communities that are also named Somersville.

Within California, the name Somersville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Tolland County
      • This Somersville is located in Tolland County and lies 2,591 miles [4,169.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Somersville that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tolland County community of Somersville.
    • Maine
      • Hancock 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 Maine community of Somersville [Hancock County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Somersville ...

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.

  • Blackhawk
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Blackhawk is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackhawk
  • Chipps
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Chipps is located in Solano County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipps
  • Clyde
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Clyde is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Cornwall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cornwall is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall
  • Diablo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Diamond
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Diamond is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
  • Empire ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Empire is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
  • Four Corners
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Four Corners is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Marsh Creek Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Marsh Creek Springs is located in Contra Costa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh Creek Springs
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Montezuma
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Montezuma is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
    • Pleasant Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Rock City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Rock City is located in Contra Costa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock City
    • Sand Hill
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Sand Hill is located in Contra Costa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hill
    • Sparkle
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Sparkle is located in Contra Costa County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkle
    • Spoonbill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Spoonbill is located in Solano County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spoonbill

How Far From Somersville 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 Somersville 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<4> community of Somersville once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Somersville and extending to:

  • Martinez, which is the Seat of Contra Costa County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Somersville to Martinez, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 47 miles [75.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,400 miles [3,862.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 137 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,393 miles [11,897.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,160 miles [13,132.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,211 miles [9,995.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Somersville) 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 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 Somersville 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>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 Somersville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Somersville 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 Somersville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9569, Longitude: -121.8644       In this case, the coordinates for Somersville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.755 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.624 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.824 degrees.