RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Cumberland County >> South Windham >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Windham, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Windham 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 Windham:
    • 43.736190, -70.423663
    • 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 Windham
  • 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 Cumberland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Since South Windham is near York County and also Oxford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oxford 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 Windham

Communities Also Named South Windham ...

We found three communities that are also named South Windham.

Within Maine, the name South Windham is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Windham County
      • This South Windham is located in Windham County and lies 167 miles [268.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the South Windham that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windham County community of South Windham.
    • New Hampshire
      • Rockingham 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 New Hampshire community of South Windham [Rockingham County].
    • Vermont
      • Windham County
      • This South Windham is located in Windham County and lies 122 miles [196.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the South Windham that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windham County community of South Windham.

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Windham ...

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.

  • Blackstrap
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Blackstrap is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackstrap
  • Chicopee
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Chicopee is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chicopee
  • Dog Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dog Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dog Corner
  • Gag Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Gag Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gag Corner
  • Gates Hill ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Gates Hill is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gates Hill
  • Great Falls ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Great Falls is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Falls
  • Groveville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Groveville is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groveville
  • Grubb Hill ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Grubb Hill is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grubb Hill
  • Ireland Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ireland Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ireland Corner
  • Little Falls
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Little Falls is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Falls
  • Popeville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Popeville is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Popeville
  • Prides Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Prides Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prides Corner
  • Scotland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Scotland is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotland
  • Summit View Park ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Summit View Park is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit View Park

How Far From South Windham to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories 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 Windham to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Portland, which is the Seat of Cumberland County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from South Windham to Portland, 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.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 478 miles [769.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,424 miles [8,729.1 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 6,136 miles [9,874.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,011 miles [6,455.1 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- South Windham) 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 Windham 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 Windham 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 Windham. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.7362, Longitude: -70.4237       In this case, the coordinates for South Windham have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.371 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.127 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 299.553 degrees.