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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Meriden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Meriden 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 Meriden:
    • 40.947321, -74.457655
    • 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 Meriden
  • 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 Morris County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morris County
    • Since Meriden is near Passaic County and also Essex County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Passaic County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Essex 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 Meriden

Communities Also Named Meriden ...

We found nine communities that are also named Meriden.

Within New Jersey, the name Meriden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven County
      • This Meriden is located in New Haven County and lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Haven County community of Meriden.
    • Illinois
      • La Salle County
      • This Meriden is located in La Salle County and lies 756 miles [1,216.7 km]<1> to the west of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the La Salle County community of Meriden.
    • Iowa
      • Cherokee County
      • This Meriden is located in Cherokee County and lies 1,093 miles [1,759 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Meriden.
    • Kansas
      • Jefferson County
      • This Meriden is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,119 miles [1,800.9 km]<1> to the west of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Meriden.
    • Minnesota
      • Steele County
      • This Meriden is located in Steele County and lies 985 miles [1,585.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Steele County community of Meriden.
    • Nebraska
      • Dawson 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 Nebraska community of Meriden [Dawson County].
    • New Hampshire
      • Sullivan County
      • This Meriden is located in Sullivan County and lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Meriden.
    • West Virginia
      • Barbour County
      • This Meriden is located in Barbour County and lies 318 miles [511.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barbour County community of Meriden.
    • Wyoming
      • Laramie County
      • This Meriden is located in Laramie County and lies 1,543 miles [2,483.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Meriden that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Laramie County community of Meriden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Meriden ...

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.

  • Fox Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Fox Hill is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hill
  • Franklin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Franklin is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Green Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Green Lake is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Lake
  • Green Pond
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Green Pond is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pond
  • Green Pond Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Green Pond Junction is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pond Junction
  • Hibernia
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hibernia is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibernia
  • Hilltown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hilltown is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltown
  • Lake Arrowhead
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lake Arrowhead is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Arrowhead
  • Lower Longwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Lower Longwood is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Longwood
  • Lyonsville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Lyonsville is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyonsville
  • Mount Hope
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Mount Hope is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Powerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Powerville is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powerville
  • Rockaway Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Rockaway Valley is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockaway Valley
  • Smoke Rise
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Smoke Rise is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoke Rise

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

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

  • Morristown, which is the Seat of Morris County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Meriden to Morristown, 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 52 miles [83.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 196 miles [315.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,703 miles [9,178.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,411 miles [10,317.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,287 miles [6,899.3 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Meriden) 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 Meriden 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 Meriden 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 Meriden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9473, Longitude: -74.4577       In this case, the coordinates for Meriden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.187 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.832 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.756 degrees.