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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Middle Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Middle Valley 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 Middle Valley:
    • 40.760655, -74.820443
    • 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 Middle Valley
  • 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 Middle Valley is near Hunterdon County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hunterdon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Middle Valley

Communities Also Named Middle Valley ...

We found two communities that are also named Middle Valley.

Within New Jersey, the name Middle Valley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Washington 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 Idaho community of Middle Valley [Washington County].
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Middle Valley is located in Hamilton County and lies 681 miles [1,096 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Middle Valley that is located in Morris County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Middle Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Middle Valley ...

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.

  • Anthony
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Anthony is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthony
  • Butler Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Butler Park is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler Park
  • Farmersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Farmersville is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersville
  • Little Brook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Little Brook is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Brook
  • Long Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Valley is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Valley
  • Mountainville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mountainville is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainville
  • Pleasant Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Red Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Mill is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mill
  • Rockport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rockport is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockport
  • Scrappy Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Scrappy Corner is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scrappy Corner
  • Springtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Springtown is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springtown

How Far From Middle Valley to ...

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

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

  • Morristown, which is the Seat of Morris County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Middle Valley to Morristown, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 37 miles [59.5 km] to the south (S). 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 over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 174 miles [280 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,726 miles [9,215.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,434 miles [10,354.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,310 miles [6,936.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 Middle Valley 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Middle Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Middle Valley 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 Middle Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7607, Longitude: -74.8204       In this case, the coordinates for Middle Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.423 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.069 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.998 degrees.