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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Salem, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Salem 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 South Salem:
    • 42.511207, -70.892549
    • 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 South Salem
  • 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 South Salem is near Suffolk County and also Middlesex County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex 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 South Salem

Communities Also Named South Salem ...

We found five communities that are also named South Salem.

Within Massachusetts, the name South Salem is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Randolph County
      • This South Salem is located in Randolph County and lies 740 miles [1,190.9 km]<1> to the west of the South Salem that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of South Salem.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This South Salem is located in Westchester County and lies 161 miles [259.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the South Salem that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of South Salem.
    • Ohio
      • Ross County
      • This South Salem is located in Ross County and lies 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the South Salem that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ross County community of South Salem.
    • Texas
      • Leon County
      • This South Salem is located in Leon County and lies 1,583 miles [2,547.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the South Salem that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Leon County community of South Salem.
    • Virginia
      • Salem City
      • 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 Virginia community of South Salem [Salem City].

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Salem ...

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.

  • Beverly
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Beverly is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 42,242 people
  • Centerville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Centerville is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Derby Wharf
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Derby Wharf is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby Wharf
  • Little Nahant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Little Nahant is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Nahant
  • Lynn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynn is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 94,539 people
  • Marblehead
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Marblehead is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marblehead
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,551 people
  • Marblehead Lighthouse
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Marblehead Neck
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Marblehead Neck is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marblehead Neck
  • Peabody
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Peabody is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 53,063 people
  • Prides Crossing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Prides Crossing is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prides Crossing

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

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

  • Salem, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from South Salem to Boston, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • 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 5,491 miles [8,836.9 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 6,198 miles [9,974.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,074 miles [6,556.5 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 drawn from Point A (ie- South Salem) 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 South Salem 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 South Salem 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 South Salem. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5112, Longitude: -70.8925       In this case, the coordinates for South Salem have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.852 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.458 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.418 degrees.