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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Squantum, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Squantum 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 Squantum:
    • 42.295932, -71.011994
    • 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 Squantum
  • 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 Norfolk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk County
    • Since Squantum is near Suffolk County and also Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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 Squantum

Communities Also Named Squantum ...

We found three communities that are also named Squantum.

There is one other community in Massachusetts that is also named Squantum.

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

  • Communities Located In Massachusetts ...
    • Nantucket County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Nantucket County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nantucket County community of Squantum.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Hampshire
      • Cheshire County
      • This Squantum is located in Cheshire County and lies 60 miles [96.6 km]<2> to the northwest of the Squantum that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cheshire County community of Squantum.
    • Rhode Island
      • Providence 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 Rhode Island community of Squantum [Providence County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Squantum ...

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.

  • Cedar Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Downtown Crossing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Downtown Crossing is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downtown Crossing
  • Fields Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Fields Corner is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields Corner
  • Five Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Five Corners is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Fort Independence
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fort Independence is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Independence
  • Grove Hall
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Grove Hall is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hall
  • Meeting House Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Meeting House Hill is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeting House Hill
  • Merrymount
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Merrymount is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrymount
  • Milton Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Milton Center is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton Center
  • Old Boat Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Old Boat Point is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Boat Point
  • Post Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Post Island is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Island
  • Rock Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock Island is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island

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

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

  • Dedham, which is the Seat of Norfolk County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies just to the north northwest (NNW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 393 miles [632.5 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Squantum to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 23 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,504 miles [8,857.8 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 6,211 miles [9,995.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,087 miles [6,577.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Squantum, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Squantum) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Squantum 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 Squantum 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 Squantum. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2959, Longitude: -71.0120       In this case, the coordinates for Squantum have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.957 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.539 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.582 degrees.