RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Hampden County >> Granville Center >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Granville Center, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Granville Center 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 Granville Center:
    • 42.067316, -72.878710
    • 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 Granville Center
  • 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 Hampden County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hampden County
    • Since Granville Center is near Hartford County and also Litchfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hartford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Litchfield 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 Granville Center

Communities Also Named Granville Center ...

We found two communities that are also named Granville Center.

Within Massachusetts, the name Granville Center is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford County
      • This Granville Center is located in Bradford County and lies 198 miles [318.7 km]<1> to the west of the Granville Center that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradford County community of Granville Center.
    • Wisconsin
      • Milwaukee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Granville Center [Milwaukee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Granville Center ...

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.

  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Points is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Hartland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Hartland is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartland
  • Hungary
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Hungary is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hungary
  • Little River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Little River is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
  • Meadowgate
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadowgate is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowgate
  • Mechanicsville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Rising Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Rising Corner is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Corner
  • Roosterville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Roosterville is located in Berkshire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roosterville
  • Salmon Brook
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Salmon Brook is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salmon Brook
  • Skyland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Skyland is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyland
  • Trainfield
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Trainfield is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trainfield
  • Windmill Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Windmill Springs is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windmill Springs

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

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

  • Springfield, which is the Seat of Hampden County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Granville Center to Springfield, 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 four to five hours.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 95 miles [152.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 309 miles [497.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving 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 5,592 miles [8,999.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,301 miles [10,140.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,177 miles [6,722.2 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- Granville Center) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Granville Center 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.
<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 Granville Center 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 Granville Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0673, Longitude: -72.8787       In this case, the coordinates for Granville Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.109 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.798 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.535 degrees.