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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Silver Falls, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Silver Falls 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 Silver Falls:
    • 41.412598, -72.220079
    • 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 Silver Falls
  • 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 Silver Falls 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 Silver Falls

Communities Also Named Silver Falls ...

We found two communities that are also named Silver Falls.

Within Connecticut, the name Silver Falls is unique.

Beyond Connecticut, we know of two communities that are located in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Manitoba
      • This Silver Falls lies 1,298 miles [2,088.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Silver Falls that is located in New London County.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Silver Falls lies 410 miles [659.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Silver Falls that is located in New London County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Silver Falls ...

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.

  • Crescent Beach
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Crescent Beach is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Beach
  • Crescent Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Crescent Park is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Flanders
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Flanders is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flanders
  • Four Corners
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Four Corners is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Gales Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Giants Neck
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Giants Neck is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Giants Neck
  • Golden Spur
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Golden Spur is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden Spur
  • Graniteville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Graniteville is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graniteville
  • Grassy Hill ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Grassy Hill is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Hill
  • Heilwield Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Heilwield Corner is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heilwield Corner
  • Jordan
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jordan is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Laysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Laysville is located in New London County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laysville
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Lyme
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Lyme is located in New London County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyme
    • Millstone
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Millstone is located in New London County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millstone
    • Quaker Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sandy Point
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandy Point is located in New London County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point

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

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

  • Hartford, which is the State Capital of Connecticut, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from Silver Falls to Hartford, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of 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 307 miles [494.1 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 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,590 miles [8,996.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,295 miles [10,130.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,172 miles [6,714.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Silver Falls) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Silver Falls 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 Silver Falls. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4126, Longitude: -72.2201       In this case, the coordinates for Silver Falls have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.80 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.342 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.558 degrees.