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 Plain:
42.483427, -71.371727
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.
We found eight communities that are also named Plain.
Within Massachusetts, the name Plain is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Mississippi
Rankin County
This Plain is located in Rankin County and lies 1,246 miles [2,005.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Plain that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rankin County community of Plain.
New Mexico
Quay County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Plain [Quay County].
North Carolina
Guilford County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Plain [Guilford County].
Ohio
Stark County
This Plain is located in Stark County and lies 525 miles [844.9 km]<1> to the west of the Plain that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stark County community of Plain.
Wayne County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Plain [Wayne County].
Texas
Houston County
This Plain is located in Houston County and lies 1,507 miles [2,425.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Plain that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Houston County community of Plain.
Washington
Chelan County
This Plain is located in Chelan County and lies 2,387 miles [3,841.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Plain that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chelan County community of Plain.
Wisconsin
Sauk County
This Plain is located in Sauk County and lies 944 miles [1,519.2 km]<1> to the west of the Plain that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sauk County community of Plain.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Plain ...
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.
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 Plain to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Plain and extending to:
Cambridge, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Plain to Cambridge, with an average speed<4> 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 18 miles [29 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take just over a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 386 miles [621.2 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 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,512 miles [8,870.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,220 miles [10,010.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,096 miles [6,591.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Plain) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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 Plain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>
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 Plain 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.
<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 Plain 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 Plain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4834, Longitude: -71.3717 In this case, the coordinates for Plain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.144 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.782 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.648 degrees.