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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elsmere, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elsmere 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 Elsmere:
    • 39.696503, -75.137122
    • 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 Elsmere
  • 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 Gloucester County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gloucester County
    • Since Elsmere is near Salem County and also Camden County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Salem County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Camden 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 Elsmere

Communities Also Named Elsmere ...

We found nine communities that are also named Elsmere.

Within New Jersey, the name Elsmere is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • El Paso County
      • This Elsmere is located in El Paso County and lies 1,574 miles [2,533.1 km]<1> to the west of the Elsmere that is located in Gloucester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Paso County community of Elsmere.
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Elsmere is located in New Castle County and lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<1> to the west of the Elsmere that is located in Gloucester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Elsmere.
    • Illinois
      • Cook 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 Illinois community of Elsmere [Cook County].
    • Kentucky
      • Kenton County
      • This Elsmere is located in Kenton County and lies 507 miles [815.9 km]<1> to the west of the Elsmere that is located in Gloucester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kenton County community of Elsmere.
    • Nebraska
      • Cherry County
      • This Elsmere is located in Cherry County and lies 1,312 miles [2,111.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Elsmere that is located in Gloucester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherry County community of Elsmere.
    • New York
      • Albany County
      • This Elsmere is located in Albany County and lies 213 miles [342.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Elsmere that is located in Gloucester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Albany County community of Elsmere.
      • Orange 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 Elsmere [Orange County].
      • Westchester County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Elsmere [Westchester County].
    • Ohio
      • Hamilton 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 Ohio community of Elsmere [Hamilton County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elsmere ...

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
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Centre City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Centre City is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centre City
  • Cross Keys
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cross Keys is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Downer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Downer is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downer
  • Friendship
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Friendship is located in Salem County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Fries Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fries Mill is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fries Mill
  • Garden City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Garden City is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
  • Green Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Tree is located in Gloucester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Tree
  • Jessups Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jessups Mill is located in Salem County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jessups Mill
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lincoln
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Lincoln is located in Gloucester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Maple Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Maple Grove is located in Salem County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
    • New Freedom
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • New Freedom is located in Salem County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Freedom
    • Pine Tavern
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Pine Tavern is located in Salem County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Tavern
    • Richwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Richwood is located in Gloucester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richwood
    • Whig Lane
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Whig Lane is located in Salem County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whig Lane

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

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

  • Woodbury, which is the Seat of Gloucester County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Elsmere to Woodbury, 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.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 41 miles [66 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 115 miles [185.1 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,783 miles [9,306.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,487 miles [10,439.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,364 miles [7,023.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Elsmere) 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 Elsmere 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 Elsmere 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 Elsmere. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6965, Longitude: -75.1371       In this case, the coordinates for Elsmere have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.71 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.225 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.591 degrees.