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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Samptown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Samptown 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 Samptown:
    • 40.581645, -74.430259
    • 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 Samptown
  • 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 Middlesex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Since Samptown is near Union County and also Somerset County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset 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 Samptown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Samptown ...

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.

  • Clara Barton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Clara Barton is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara Barton
  • Coontown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coontown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coontown
  • Edison
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Fieldville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Fieldville is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldville
  • Free Acres
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Free Acres is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free Acres
  • Lincoln Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Netherwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Netherwood is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Netherwood
  • Nixon
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Nixon is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
  • Oak Tree
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Oak Tree is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Tree
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Samptown and extending to:

  • New Brunswick, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies just to the South.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Samptown to Trenton, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 180 miles [289.7 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 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,717 miles [9,200.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,423 miles [10,336.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,300 miles [6,920.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Samptown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Samptown 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 Samptown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5816, Longitude: -74.4303    
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.209 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.798 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.906 degrees.