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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Grasselli, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grasselli 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 Grasselli:
    • 40.615104, -74.208756
    • 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 Grasselli
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Grasselli is near Richmond County and also Middlesex 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 Middlesex 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 Grasselli

Communities Also Named Grasselli ...

We found two communities that are also named Grasselli.

Within New Jersey, the name Grasselli is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Grasselli is located in Jefferson County and lies 855 miles [1,376 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Grasselli that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Grasselli.
    • Indiana
      • Lake 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 Indiana community of Grasselli [Lake County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Grasselli ...

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.

  • Bulls Head
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Bulls Head is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bulls Head
  • Chrome
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Chrome is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chrome
  • Crane Square
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Crane Square is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane Square
  • Edgar
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Edgar is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgar
  • Elizabeth
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Elizabeth is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 128,382 people
  • Elizabethport
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Elizabethport is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethport
  • Elm Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Elm Park is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Park
  • Fresh Kills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fresh Kills is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fresh Kills
  • Graniteville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Graniteville is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graniteville
  • Greenridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenridge is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenridge
  • Gulfport
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Gulfport is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulfport
  • Heartland Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Heartland Village is located in Richmond County (NY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heartland Village
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Liberty Square
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Liberty Square is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Square
    • Mariners Harbor
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Mariners Harbor is located in Richmond County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariners Harbor
    • Old Place
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Old Place is located in Richmond County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Place
    • Union Square
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Union Square is located in Union County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Square
    • Willowbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Willowbrook is located in Richmond County (NY)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowbrook

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

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

  • Elizabeth, which is the Seat of Union County, lies just to the North.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 39 miles [62.8 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Grasselli to Trenton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 191 miles [307.4 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,706 miles [9,182.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,412 miles [10,319.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,289 miles [6,902.5 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Grasselli) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Grasselli 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 Grasselli 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 Grasselli. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6151, Longitude: -74.2088       In this case, the coordinates for Grasselli have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.074 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.65 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.796 degrees.