RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Essex County >> Maple Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maple Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maple Park 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 Maple Park:
    • 42.768423, -71.162003
    • 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 Maple Park
  • 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 Essex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Essex County
    • Since Maple Park is near Rockingham County and also Dukes County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockingham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dukes 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 Maple Park

Communities Also Named Maple Park ...

We found four communities that are also named Maple Park.

Within Massachusetts, the name Maple Park is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Kane County
      • This Maple Park is located in Kane County and lies 890 miles [1,432.3 km]<1> to the west of the Maple Park that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kane County community of Maple Park.
    • Missouri
      • Clay County
      • This Maple Park is located in Clay County and lies 1,237 miles [1,990.8 km]<1> to the west of the Maple Park that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Maple Park.
    • Ohio
      • Warren 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 Ohio community of Maple Park [Warren County].
    • Ontario
      • This Maple Park lies 410 miles [659.8 km]<1> to the west of the Maple Park that is located in Essex County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maple Park ...

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.

  • Cowbell Corners
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cowbell Corners is located in Rockingham County (NH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowbell Corners
  • Crane Crossing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crane Crossing is located in Rockingham County (NH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane Crossing
  • Georgetown
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Georgetown is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,789 people
  • Groveland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Groveland is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groveland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,868 people
  • Highlandville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Highlandville is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highlandville
  • Howards Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Howards Grove is located in Rockingham County (NH)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howards Grove
  • Marble Ridge Station
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Marble Ridge Station is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble Ridge Station
  • Marsh Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Marsh Corner is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marsh Corner
  • Rocks Village
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Rocks Village is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocks Village

How Far From Maple Park to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Maple Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Salem, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Maple Park to Salem, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 28 miles [45.1 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 406 miles [653.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,492 miles [8,838.5 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 6,201 miles [9,979.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,077 miles [6,561.3 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maple Park) 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 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 Maple Park 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 Maple Park 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 Maple Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7684, Longitude: -71.1620       In this case, the coordinates for Maple Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.975 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.639 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.407 degrees.