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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rowley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rowley and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Rowley:
    • 42.716759, -70.878663
    • 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 Rowley
  • 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 Rowley 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 Rowley

Communities Also Named Rowley ...

We found six communities that are also named Rowley.

Within Massachusetts, the name Rowley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Rowley lies 2,029 miles [3,265.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rowley that is located in Essex County.
    • Iowa
      • Buchanan County
      • This Rowley is located in Buchanan County and lies 1,064 miles [1,712.3 km]<1> to the west of the Rowley that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Rowley.
    • Michigan
      • Kalkaska 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 Michigan community of Rowley [Kalkaska County].
    • Montana
      • Big Horn County
      • This Rowley is located in Big Horn County and lies 1,821 miles [2,930.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rowley that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Big Horn County community of Rowley.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Rowley lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Rowley that is located in Essex County.
    • Utah
      • Tooele County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Rowley [Tooele County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rowley ...

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.

  • Doles Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Doles Corner is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doles Corner
  • Georgetown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Georgetown is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,789 people
  • Joppa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Joppa is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa
  • Kent Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Kent Corner is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Corner
  • Kings Forest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Kings Forest is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Forest
  • Knights Crossing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Knights Crossing is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knights Crossing
  • Little Neck
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Little Neck is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Neck
  • Nancys Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Nancys Corner is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nancys Corner
  • Pine Island
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Pine Island is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island
  • Plumbush
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Plumbush is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumbush
  • Rings Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Rings Island is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rings Island
  • Rooty Plain
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Rooty Plain is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rooty Plain

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

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

  • Salem, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Rowley to Salem, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 26 miles [41.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 415 miles [667.9 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 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,482 miles [8,822.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,190 miles [9,961.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,066 miles [6,543.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Rowley) 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 Rowley 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>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 Rowley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Rowley 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 Rowley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7168, Longitude: -70.8787       In this case, the coordinates for Rowley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.812 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.448 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.305 degrees.