RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Livingston County >> Niantic >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Niantic, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Niantic and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Niantic:
    • 39.965573, -93.456880
    • 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 Niantic
  • 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 Livingston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Livingston County
    • Since Niantic is near Grundy County and also Linn County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grundy County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Linn 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 Niantic

Communities Also Named Niantic ...

We found four communities that are also named Niantic.

Within Missouri, the name Niantic is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New London County
      • This Niantic is located in New London County and lies 1,115 miles [1,794.4 km]<1> to the east of the Niantic that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New London County community of Niantic.
    • Illinois
      • Macon County
      • This Niantic is located in Macon County and lies 227 miles [365.3 km]<1> to the east of the Niantic that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Niantic.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Montgomery County
      • This Niantic is located in Montgomery County and lies 942 miles [1,516 km]<1> to the east of the Niantic that is located in Livingston County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Niantic.
    • Rhode Island
      • Washington 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 Rhode Island community of Niantic [Washington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Niantic ...

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.

  • Alpha
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Alpha is located in Grundy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
  • Cream Ridge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Cream Ridge is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cream Ridge
  • Edinburg
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Edinburg is located in Grundy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburg
  • Farmersville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Farmersville is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersville
  • Harmony ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harmony is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Hickory Creek
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Creek is located in Grundy County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Creek
  • Meadville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadville is located in Linn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 425 people
  • Parsons
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Parsons is located in Sullivan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsons
  • Silverleaf
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Silverleaf is located in Livingston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverleaf

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

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

  • Chillicothe, which is the Seat of Livingston County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Niantic to Chillicothe, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 117 miles [188.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 877 miles [1,411.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,487 miles [10,439.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,232 miles [11,638.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,122 miles [8,243.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Niantic) 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 Niantic 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 Niantic 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 Niantic. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9656, Longitude: -93.4569       In this case, the coordinates for Niantic have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.31 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.511 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.931 degrees.