RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Kennebec County >> Island Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Island Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Island Park 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 Island Park:
    • 44.321180, -69.887549
    • 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 Island Park
  • 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 Kennebec County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kennebec County
    • Since Island Park is near Androscoggin County and also Lincoln County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Androscoggin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln 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 Island Park

Communities Also Named Island Park ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Island Park.

Within Maine, the name Island Park is unique.

Beyond Maine, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Fremont County
      • This Island Park is located in Fremont County and lies 2,021 miles [3,252.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fremont County community of Island Park.
    • Indiana
      • Kosciusko County
      • This Island Park is located in Kosciusko County and lies 831 miles [1,337.4 km]<1> to the west of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kosciusko County community of Island Park.
      • Steuben County
      • This Island Park is located in Steuben County and lies 782 miles [1,258.5 km] to the west of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Steuben County community of Island Park.
    • Iowa
      • Mills 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 Iowa community of Island Park [Mills County].
      • Pottawattamie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Island Park [Pottawattamie County].
    • Michigan
      • Kalamazoo 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 Island Park [Kalamazoo County].
    • Minnesota
      • Hennepin County
      • This Island Park is located in Hennepin County and lies 1,163 miles [1,871.7 km]<1> to the west of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hennepin County community of Island Park.
    • New York
      • Nassau County
      • This Island Park is located in Nassau County and lies 320 miles [515 km]<1> to the southwest of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Island Park.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Cambria 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 Pennsylvania community of Island Park [Cambria County].
      • Northumberland County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Island Park [Northumberland County].
    • Rhode Island
      • Newport County
      • This Island Park is located in Newport County and lies 198 miles [318.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newport County community of Island Park.
    • Wisconsin
      • Winnebago County
      • This Island Park is located in Winnebago County and lies 934 miles [1,503.1 km]<1> to the west of the Island Park that is located in Kennebec County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winnebago County community of Island Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Island Park ...

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.

  • Frenchs Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Frenchs Corner is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchs Corner
  • Granite Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Granite Hill is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Hill
  • Kents Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Locks Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Locks Corner is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locks Corner
  • Purgatory
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Purgatory is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purgatory
  • Randolph
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Spears Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Spears Corner is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spears Corner
  • Summerhaven
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Summerhaven is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhaven
  • Tallwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tallwood is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tallwood
  • Wings Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Wings Mills is located in Kennebec County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wings Mills

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

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

  • Augusta, which is the Seat of Kennebec County, lies just to the East.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies just to the east (E).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 525 miles [844.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Island Park to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 30 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,380 miles [8,658.3 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 6,093 miles [9,805.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,969 miles [6,387.5 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Island Park) 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 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 Island Park 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'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 Island Park 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 Island Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3212, Longitude: -69.8875       In this case, the coordinates for Island Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 302.94 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 298.746 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 298.977 degrees.