RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Knox County >> Thomaston >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Thomaston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Thomaston 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 Thomaston:
    • 44.078943, -69.182456
    • 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 Thomaston
  • 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 Knox County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox County
    • Since Thomaston is near Lincoln County and also Waldo County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lincoln County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Waldo 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 Thomaston

Communities Also Named Thomaston ...

We found nine communities that are also named Thomaston.

Within Maine, the name Thomaston is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Marengo County
      • This Thomaston is located in Marengo County and lies 1,285 miles [2,068 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marengo County community of Thomaston.
    • Connecticut
      • Litchfield County
      • This Thomaston is located in Litchfield County and lies 257 miles [413.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Litchfield County community of Thomaston.
    • Georgia
      • Upson County
      • This Thomaston is located in Upson County and lies 1,122 miles [1,805.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Upson County community of Thomaston.
    • Indiana
      • LaPorte County
      • This Thomaston is located in LaPorte County and lies 911 miles [1,466.1 km]<1> to the west of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the LaPorte County community of Thomaston.
    • Michigan
      • Gogebic County
      • This Thomaston is located in Gogebic County and lies 1,018 miles [1,638.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gogebic County community of Thomaston.
    • New York
      • Nassau County
      • This Thomaston is located in Nassau County and lies 323 miles [519.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Thomaston.
      • Queens 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 York community of Thomaston [Queens County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Schuylkill 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 Thomaston [Schuylkill County].
    • Texas
      • DeWitt County
      • This Thomaston is located in DeWitt County and lies 1,854 miles [2,983.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Thomaston that is located in Knox County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeWitt County community of Thomaston.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Thomaston ...

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.

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

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

  • Rockland, which is the Seat of Knox County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could walk a straight line from Thomaston to Augusta, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 540 miles [869 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,360 miles [8,626.1 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 6,071 miles [9,770.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,946 miles [6,350.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Thomaston) 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 Thomaston 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 Thomaston 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 Thomaston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0789, Longitude: -69.1825    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 302.552 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 298.27 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 298.779 degrees.