RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Connecticut >> Fairfield County >> Berkshire >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Berkshire, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Berkshire 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 Berkshire:
    • 41.408707, -73.259560
    • 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 Berkshire
  • 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 Fairfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfield County
    • Since Berkshire is near New Haven County and also Litchfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for New Haven County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Litchfield 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 Berkshire

Communities Also Named Berkshire ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Berkshire.

Within Connecticut, the name Berkshire is unique.

Beyond Connecticut, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Gwinnett County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Berkshire [Gwinnett County].
    • Kentucky
      • Boone 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 Kentucky community of Berkshire [Boone County].
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Berkshire is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 244 miles [392.7 km]<3> to the southwest of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Berkshire.
      • Prince George's County
      • This Berkshire is located in Prince George's County and lies 260 miles [418.4 km] to the southwest of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince George's County community of Berkshire.
    • Massachusetts
      • Berkshire County
      • This Berkshire is located in Berkshire County and lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<3> to the north of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Berkshire County community of Berkshire.
    • Michigan
      • Sanilac County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Berkshire [Sanilac County].
    • New York
      • Fulton County
      • This Berkshire is located in Fulton County and lies 125 miles [201.2 km]<3> to the north northwest of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Berkshire.
      • Tioga County
      • This Berkshire is located in Tioga County and lies 162 miles [260.7 km] to the west northwest of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tioga County community of Berkshire.
    • Ohio
      • Delaware County
      • This Berkshire is located in Delaware County and lies 509 miles [819.2 km]<3> to the west of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Berkshire.
    • Vermont
      • Franklin County
      • This Berkshire is located in Franklin County and lies 247 miles [397.5 km]<3> to the north of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Berkshire.
    • Virginia
      • Arlington County
      • This Berkshire is located in Arlington County and lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<3> to the southwest of the Berkshire that is located in Fairfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Arlington County community of Berkshire.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Berkshire ...

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.

  • Cedar Land
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Land is located in New Haven County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Land
  • Dodgingtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Dodgingtown is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodgingtown
  • Hattertown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hattertown is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hattertown
  • Heritage Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Heritage Village is located in New Haven County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Village
  • Hopewell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hopewell is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Huntingtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Huntingtown is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntingtown
  • Kettletown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kettletown is located in New Haven County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettletown
  • Palestine
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Palestine is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palestine
  • Pootatuck Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Pootatuck Park is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pootatuck Park
  • Quaker Farms
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Quaker Farms is located in New Haven County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Farms
  • Rocky Glen
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Rocky Glen is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Glen
  • Russian Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Russian Village is located in Litchfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russian Village
  • Sandy Hook
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Shady Rest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Shady Rest is located in Fairfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Rest

How Far From Berkshire to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Berkshire to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Hartford, which is the State Capital of Connecticut, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<3> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Berkshire to Hartford, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 264 miles [424.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,634 miles [9,067 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,341 miles [10,204.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,218 miles [6,788.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Berkshire, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Berkshire 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>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- Berkshire) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Berkshire 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 Berkshire. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4087, Longitude: -73.2596       In this case, the coordinates for Berkshire have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.42 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.04 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.018 degrees.