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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Southwick, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Southwick 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 Southwick:
    • 42.054817, -72.770372
    • 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 Southwick
  • 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 Southwick 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 Southwick

Communities Also Named Southwick ...

We found four communities that are also named Southwick.

Within Massachusetts, the name Southwick 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 ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Southwick [Pulaski County].
    • Georgia
      • Richmond County
      • This Southwick is located in Richmond County and lies 782 miles [1,258.5 km]<2> to the southwest of the Southwick that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Southwick.
    • Idaho
      • Nez Perce County
      • This Southwick is located in Nez Perce County and lies 2,153 miles [3,464.9 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Southwick that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nez Perce County community of Southwick.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Southwick.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Southwick ...

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.

  • Feeding Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Feeding Hills is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Feeding Hills
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Hungary
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hungary is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hungary
  • Little River
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Little River is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
  • Meadowgate
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Meadowgate is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowgate
  • Mechanicsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Rising Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rising Corner is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Corner
  • Salmon Brook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Salmon Brook is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salmon Brook
  • Trainfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Trainfield is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trainfield
  • Windmill Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Windmill Springs is located in Hartford County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windmill Springs

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

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

  • Springfield, which is the Seat of Hampden County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Southwick to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 90 miles [144.8 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 most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 312 miles [502.1 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,588 miles [8,993 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,297 miles [10,134 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,173 miles [6,715.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Southwick 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Southwick) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Southwick 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 Southwick. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0548, Longitude: -72.7704       In this case, the coordinates for Southwick have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.045 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.724 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.492 degrees.