RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Passaic, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Passaic 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 Passaic:
    • 40.856640, -74.128860
    • 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 Passaic
  • 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 Passaic County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Passaic County
    • Since Passaic is near Bergen County and also Essex County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bergen 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 Passaic

Communities Also Named Passaic ...

We found three communities that are also named Passaic.

Within New Jersey, the name Passaic is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Kearny 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 Kansas community of Passaic [Kearny County].
    • Minnesota
      • Wadena 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 Minnesota community of Passaic [Wadena County].
    • Missouri
      • Bates County
      • This Passaic is located in Bates County and lies 1,087 miles [1,749.4 km]<2> to the west of the Passaic that is located in Passaic County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bates County community of Passaic.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Passaic ...

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.

  • Cedar Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Cherry Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Bergen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • Great Notch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Great Notch is located in Passaic County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Notch
  • Hackensack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Kingsland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Kingsland is located in Bergen County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsland
  • Lake View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Lake View is located in Passaic County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
  • Little Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Meadow Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Meadow Village is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Village
  • Nutley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Saddle Brook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Teaneck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Paterson, which is the Seat of Passaic County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Passaic to Trenton, with an average speed<3> 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 over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 205 miles [329.9 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 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,693 miles [9,162 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,400 miles [10,299.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,276 miles [6,881.6 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 Passaic 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 from Point A (ie- Passaic) 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 Passaic 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 Passaic. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8566, Longitude: -74.1289    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.001 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.607 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.653 degrees.