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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fords, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fords 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 Fords:
    • 40.529272, -74.315981
    • 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 Fords
  • 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 Fords is near Richmond County and also Union County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union 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 Fords

Communities Also Named Fords ...

We found six communities that are also named Fords.

Within New Jersey, the name Fords is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Allen Parish
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Fords [Allen Parish].
      • Bienville Parish
      • This Fords is located in Bienville Parish and lies 1,170 miles [1,882.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Fords that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bienville Parish community of Fords.
    • Missouri
      • Pike County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Fords [Pike County].
    • Texas
      • Harrison County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Fords [Harrison County].
    • Virginia
      • Dinwiddie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Fords [Dinwiddie County].
      • Goochland County
      • This Fords is located in Goochland County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<2> to the southwest of the Fords that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Goochland County community of Fords.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fords ...

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.

  • Barber
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Barber is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber
  • Clara Barton
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Clara Barton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara Barton
  • Edgar
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Edgar is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgar
  • Greensand
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Greensand is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greensand
  • Harbor Terrace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Harbor Terrace is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Terrace
  • Hopelawn
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hopelawn is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopelawn
  • Laurel Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Laurel Park is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Park
  • Lincoln Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Mechanicsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Nixon
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Nixon is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
  • Oak Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Oak Tree is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Tree
  • Pumptown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pumptown is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumptown
  • Sand Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Sand Hills is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Hills
  • Valentine
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Valentine is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valentine

How Far From Fords to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fords to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • New Brunswick, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 31 miles [49.9 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Fords to Trenton, 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 183 miles [294.5 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 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,714 miles [9,195.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,420 miles [10,332 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,297 miles [6,915.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Fords, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Fords) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Fords 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.
<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 Fords 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 Fords. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5293, Longitude: -74.3160       In this case, the coordinates for Fords have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.146 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.718 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.88 degrees.