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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Clearbrook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Clearbrook 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 Clearbrook:
    • 40.313998, -74.467652
    • 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 Clearbrook
  • 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 Middlesex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Since Clearbrook is near Mercer County and also Monmouth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monmouth 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 Clearbrook

Communities Also Named Clearbrook ...

We found six communities that are also named Clearbrook.

Within New Jersey, the name Clearbrook is unique.

Beyond New Jersey, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Clearbrook lies 2,383 miles [3,835.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Clearbrook that is located in Middlesex County.
    • Georgia
      • Clayton County
      • This Clearbrook is located in Clayton County and lies 715 miles [1,150.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Clearbrook that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Clearbrook.
    • Minnesota
      • Clearwater County
      • This Clearbrook is located in Clearwater County and lies 1,154 miles [1,857.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Clearbrook that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clearwater County community of Clearbrook.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Delaware 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 Clearbrook [Delaware County].
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke County
      • This Clearbrook is located in Roanoke County and lies 364 miles [585.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Clearbrook that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Clearbrook.
    • Washington
      • Whatcom County
      • This Clearbrook is located in Whatcom County and lies 2,383 miles [3,835.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Clearbrook that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whatcom County community of Clearbrook.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Clearbrook ...

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.

  • Fair Play
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Fair Play is located in Monmouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Play
  • Gravel Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Gravel Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Hill
  • Half Acre
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Half Acre is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Acre
  • Hickory Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Corner is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corner
  • Jamesburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jamesburg is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamesburg
  • Jamesburg Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jamesburg Gardens is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamesburg Gardens
  • Jamesburg Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jamesburg Park is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamesburg Park
  • Locust Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Locust Corner is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Corner
  • Middlesex Downs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Middlesex Downs is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middlesex Downs
  • Twin Rivers
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Twin Rivers is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Rivers
  • Union Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Union Valley is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Valley

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

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

  • New Brunswick, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Clearbrook to New Brunswick, 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.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 16 miles [25.7 km] to the west southwest (WSW). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 168 miles [270.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,729 miles [9,219.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,435 miles [10,356.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,311 miles [6,937.9 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Clearbrook) 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 Clearbrook 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 Clearbrook 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 Clearbrook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3140, Longitude: -74.4677       In this case, the coordinates for Clearbrook have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.258 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.81 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.04 degrees.