RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Washington County >> Irish Settlement >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Irish Settlement, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Irish Settlement 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 Irish Settlement:
    • 45.657840, -67.911679
    • 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 Irish Settlement
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Irish Settlement is near Aroostook County and also Penobscot County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Aroostook County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Penobscot 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 Irish Settlement

Communities Also Named Irish Settlement ...

We found four communities that are also named Irish Settlement.

Within Maine, the name Irish Settlement is unique.

Beyond Maine, 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 two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Brunswick
      • 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 New Brunswick community of Irish Settlement.
    • New York
      • Allegany County
      • This Irish Settlement is located in Allegany County and lies 550 miles [885.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Irish Settlement that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Irish Settlement.
      • Herkimer County
      • This Irish Settlement is located in Herkimer County and lies 392 miles [630.9 km] to the west southwest of the Irish Settlement that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Herkimer County community of Irish Settlement.
      • Saint Lawrence County
      • This Irish Settlement is located in Saint Lawrence County and lies 348 miles [560.1 km] to the west of the Irish Settlement that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lawrence County community of Irish Settlement.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Irish Settlement ...

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.

  • Forest
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Forest is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest
  • Forest City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Forest City is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City
  • Forest City Landing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Forest City Landing is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest City Landing
  • Fosterville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Green Mountain
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Kingman
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Reed
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Reed is located in Aroostook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed
  • Reed Plantation
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Reed Plantation is located in Aroostook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed Plantation
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
  • Upper Drew
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Upper Drew is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Drew

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

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

  • Machias, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 68 miles [109.4 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Irish Settlement to Machias, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 130 miles [209.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 658 miles [1,058.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 26 days and walking would take 38 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,249 miles [8,447.4 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 5,965 miles [9,599.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,840 miles [6,179.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 Irish Settlement 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Irish Settlement) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Irish Settlement 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 Irish Settlement. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6578, Longitude: -67.9117       In this case, the coordinates for Irish Settlement have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 301.454 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 297.325 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 297.237 degrees.