RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Connecticut >> New London County >> Happyland >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Happyland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Happyland 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 Happyland:
    • 41.472876, -72.064521
    • 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 Happyland
  • 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 New London County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for New London County
    • Since Happyland is near Middlesex County and also Suffolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk 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 Happyland

Communities Also Named Happyland ...

We found three communities that are also named Happyland.

Within Connecticut, the name Happyland is unique.

Beyond Connecticut, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Koochiching 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 Minnesota community of Happyland [Koochiching County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Pontotoc County
      • This Happyland is located in Pontotoc County and lies 1,401 miles [2,254.7 km]<2> to the west of the Happyland that is located in New London County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pontotoc County community of Happyland.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Happyland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Happyland ...

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.

  • Baltic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Four Corners
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Four Corners is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Gales Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Golden Spur
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Golden Spur is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Spur
  • Greenville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Greenville is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
  • Hallville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hallville is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallville
  • Long Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Long Hill is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Hill
  • Mystic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Mystic Seaport
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Mystic Seaport is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mystic Seaport
  • Quaker Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Quakertown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Quakertown is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quakertown
  • Silver Falls
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Silver Falls is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Falls
  • Sunnyside ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Sunnyside is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Trails Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Trails Corner is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trails Corner

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

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

  • Hartford, which is the State Capital of Connecticut, lies 37 miles [59.5 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from Happyland to Hartford, with an average speed<4> 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 316 miles [508.6 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,581 miles [8,981.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,286 miles [10,116.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,163 miles [6,699.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 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 Happyland 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Happyland) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Happyland 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 Happyland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4729, Longitude: -72.0645       In this case, the coordinates for Happyland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.70 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.239 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.461 degrees.