RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Delaware >> Sussex County >> Old Furnace >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Old Furnace, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Old Furnace 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 Old Furnace:
    • 38.666781, -75.516312
    • 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 Old Furnace
  • 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 Sussex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sussex County
    • Since Old Furnace is near Dorchester County and also Caroline County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dorchester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Caroline 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 Old Furnace

Communities Also Named Old Furnace ...

We found five communities that are also named Old Furnace.

Within Delaware, the name Old Furnace is unique.

Beyond Delaware, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Massachusetts
      • Worcester 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 Massachusetts community of Old Furnace [Worcester County].
    • New York
      • Essex 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 New York community of Old Furnace [Essex County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Beaver County
      • This Old Furnace is located in Beaver County and lies 287 miles [461.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Old Furnace that is located in Sussex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaver County community of Old Furnace.
      • Union County
      • This Old Furnace is located in Union County and lies 182 miles [292.9 km] to the north northwest of the Old Furnace that is located in Sussex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Old Furnace.
    • Virginia
      • Rockingham County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Old Furnace [Rockingham County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Old Furnace ...

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.

  • Blades
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Blades is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blades
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,498 people
  • Cannon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cannon is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
  • Cherrytree Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cherrytree Landing is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrytree Landing
  • Douglas Forge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Douglas Forge is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Douglas Forge
  • Fisher Mill Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Fisher Mill Park is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher Mill Park
  • Flea Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Flea Hill is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flea Hill
  • Gum Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Gum Crossroads is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Crossroads
  • Hardscrabble
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Hardscrabble is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardscrabble
  • Jones Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jones Crossroads is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Crossroads
  • Lake Shores
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Lake Shores is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Shores
  • Lightfoots Furnace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lightfoots Furnace is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lightfoots Furnace
  • Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Meadows is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadows
  • Ruth Harbor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Ruth Harbor is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruth Harbor
  • Snug Harbor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Snug Harbor is located in Sussex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snug Harbor

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

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

  • Georgetown, which is the Seat of Sussex County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Dover, which is the State Capital of Delaware, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Old Furnace to Dover, with an average speed<4> 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 over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 83 miles [133.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,842 miles [9,401.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,542 miles [10,528.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,421 miles [7,114.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 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 Old Furnace 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Old Furnace) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Old Furnace, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Old Furnace 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 Old Furnace. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6668, Longitude: -75.5163       In this case, the coordinates for Old Furnace have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.016 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.41 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.173 degrees.