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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fort Lee, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Lee 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 Fort Lee:
    • 40.851200, -73.970167
    • 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 Fort Lee
  • 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 Bergen County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bergen County
    • Since Fort Lee is near Hudson County and also New York 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 New York 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 Fort Lee

Communities Also Named Fort Lee ...

We found three communities that are also named Fort Lee.

Within New Jersey, the name Fort Lee is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Dinwiddie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Fort Lee [Dinwiddie County].
      • Henrico County
      • This Fort Lee is located in Henrico County and lies 293 miles [471.5 km]<2> to the southwest of the Fort Lee that is located in Bergen County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henrico County community of Fort Lee.
      • Prince George 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 Virginia community of Fort Lee [Prince George County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Lee ...

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.

  • Cherry Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Bergen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • Esplanade Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Esplanade Gardens is located in New York County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Esplanade Gardens
  • Gracie Square
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Gracie Square is located in New York County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gracie Square
  • Hackensack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Harlem
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Hell's Kitchen
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • High Bridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • High Bridge is located in Bronx County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Bridge
  • Hunts Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunts Point is located in Bronx County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunts Point
  • Kings Bridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Lincoln
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln is located in Westchester County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
  • Park Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Hill is located in Westchester County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hill
  • Teaneck
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Union City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Unionport
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Unionport is located in Bronx County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionport
    • University Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • University Heights is located in Bronx County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
    • Woodlawn
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Woodlawn is located in Bronx County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Yonkers
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Hackensack, which is the Seat of Bergen County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 60 miles [96.6 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Fort Lee to Trenton, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 211 miles [339.6 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 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,686 miles [9,150.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,393 miles [10,288.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,269 miles [6,870.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Fort Lee 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.
<2>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- Fort Lee) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Fort Lee 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 Fort Lee. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8512, Longitude: -73.9702    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.907 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.50 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.586 degrees.