RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Jersey >> Essex County >> Ampere >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ampere, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ampere 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 Ampere:
    • 40.766768, -74.194867
    • 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 Ampere
  • 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 Essex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Essex County
    • Since Ampere is near Hudson County and also Bergen County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hudson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bergen 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 Ampere

Communities Also Named Ampere ...

We found three communities that are also named Ampere.

Within New Jersey, the name Ampere is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Joaquin County
      • This Ampere is located in San Joaquin County and lies 2,485 miles [3,999.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Ampere that is located in Essex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Joaquin County community of Ampere.
    • South Carolina
      • Greenwood 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 South Carolina community of Ampere [Greenwood County].
    • Washington
      • Clark 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 Washington community of Ampere [Clark County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ampere ...

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.

  • Cedar Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Crane Square
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Crane Square is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane Square
  • Greenville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenville is located in Hudson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenville
  • Hillside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Hillside is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
  • Kingsland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kingsland is located in Bergen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsland
  • Maplewood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maplewood is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood
  • Marion
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Marion is located in Hudson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
  • Nutley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nutley is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutley
  • Orange
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Orange is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Roseville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Roseville is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
  • Short Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Short Hills is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Hills
  • Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Union is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
  • Unionburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Unionburg is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionburg
  • Wyoming
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Wyoming is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming

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

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

  • Newark, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Ampere to Trenton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 198 miles [318.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,699 miles [9,171.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,406 miles [10,309.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,282 miles [6,891.2 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ampere) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Ampere 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 Ampere 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 Ampere. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7668, Longitude: -74.1949       In this case, the coordinates for Ampere have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.05 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.647 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.722 degrees.