RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Suffolk County >> Fort Winthrop >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fort Winthrop, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Winthrop 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 Fort Winthrop:
    • 42.352042, -71.011994
    • 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 Fort Winthrop
  • 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 Suffolk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk County
    • Since Fort Winthrop is near Middlesex County and also Norfolk 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 Norfolk 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 Fort Winthrop

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Winthrop ...

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.

  • Boston
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Boston is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 691,531 people
  • Cedar Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Cottage Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Cottage Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cottage Park is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Park
  • Crescent Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Crescent Beach is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Beach
  • Downtown Crossing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Downtown Crossing is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downtown Crossing
  • Everett
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Everett is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Everett
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 46,107 people
  • Fields Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Fields Corner is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields Corner
  • Fort Independence
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fort Independence is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Independence
  • Grove Hall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Grove Hall is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hall
  • Longwood Station
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Longwood Station is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood Station
  • Meeting House Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Meeting House Hill is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeting House Hill
  • Winter Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Winter Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winter Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Fort Winthrop once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Fort Winthrop and extending to:

  • Boston, which is the Seat of Suffolk County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies just to the west northwest (WNW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 395 miles [635.7 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Fort Winthrop to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 23 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,502 miles [8,854.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,209 miles [9,992.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,085 miles [6,574.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 Fort Winthrop, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Fort Winthrop) 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 Fort Winthrop 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 Fort Winthrop. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3520, Longitude: -71.0120       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Winthrop have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.948 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.539 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.554 degrees.