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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Penwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Penwell 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 Penwell:
    • 40.778155, -74.902391
    • 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 Penwell
  • 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 Hunterdon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hunterdon County
    • Since Penwell is near Warren County and also Morris County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morris 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 Penwell

Communities Also Named Penwell ...

We found two communities that are also named Penwell.

Within New Jersey, the name Penwell is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Montana
      • Jefferson 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 Montana community of Penwell [Jefferson County].
    • Texas
      • Ector County
      • This Penwell is located in Ector County and lies 1,654 miles [2,661.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Penwell that is located in Hunterdon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ector County community of Penwell.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Penwell ...

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
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Anthony is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthony
  • Bells Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bells Crossing is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bells Crossing
  • Brass Castle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Brass Castle is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brass Castle
  • Butler Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Butler Park is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler Park
  • Changewater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Changewater is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Changewater
  • Clarksville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Clarksville is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarksville
  • Little Brook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Little Brook is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Brook
  • Pleasant Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Red Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Red Mill is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mill
  • Rockport
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rockport is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockport
  • Scrappy Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Scrappy Corner is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scrappy Corner
  • Springtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Springtown is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springtown
  • Spruce Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Spruce Run is located in Hunterdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spruce Run

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

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

  • Flemington, which is the Seat of Hunterdon County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Penwell to Flemington, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over 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 39 miles [62.8 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 172 miles [276.8 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 5,729 miles [9,219.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,437 miles [10,359.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,313 miles [6,941.1 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 Penwell 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- Penwell) 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 Penwell 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 Penwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7782, Longitude: -74.9024       In this case, the coordinates for Penwell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.47 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.125 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.026 degrees.