RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Norfolk County >> East Sharon >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in East Sharon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to East Sharon 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 East Sharon:
    • 42.135099, -71.161162
    • 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 East Sharon
  • 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 Norfolk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk County
    • Since East Sharon is near Plymouth County and also Bristol County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Plymouth County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bristol 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 East Sharon

Communities Also Named East Sharon ...

We found two communities that are also named East Sharon.

Within Massachusetts, the name East Sharon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Clay 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 Florida community of East Sharon [Clay County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This East Sharon is located in Potter County and lies 358 miles [576.1 km]<2> to the west of the East Sharon that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of East Sharon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near East Sharon ...

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
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Cedar is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
  • Cedar Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Five Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Five Corners is located in Bristol County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Four Corners
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Four Corners is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Foxvale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Foxvale is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxvale
  • Furnace Village
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Furnace Village is located in Bristol County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Village
  • Greenlodge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Greenlodge is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenlodge
  • Marshall Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Marshall Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Corner
  • Plimptonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Plimptonville is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plimptonville
  • Pondville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pondville is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pondville
  • Randolph
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Randolph is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
    • Estimated population in 2019: 34,362 people
  • Readville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Readville is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readville
  • Summer Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Summer Heights is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Heights
  • Winters Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Winters Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winters Corner

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

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

  • Dedham, which is the Seat of Norfolk County, lies just to the North.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from East Sharon to Boston, with an average speed<3> 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 five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 380 miles [611.6 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,517 miles [8,878.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,223 miles [10,014.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,099 miles [6,596.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 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 East Sharon 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 from Point A (ie- East Sharon) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 East Sharon 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 East Sharon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1351, Longitude: -71.1612       In this case, the coordinates for East Sharon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.07 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.639 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.731 degrees.