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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Somerville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Somerville 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 South Somerville:
    • 40.535659, -74.618491
    • 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 South Somerville
  • 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 Somerset County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Since South Somerville is near Middlesex County and also Hunterdon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hunterdon 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 South Somerville

Communities Also Named South Somerville ...

We found one communities that are also named South Somerville.

Within New Jersey, the name South Somerville is unique.

Beyond New Jersey, there is another community also named South Somerville in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Lincoln 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 Maine community of South Somerville [Lincoln County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Somerville ...

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.

  • Chimney Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Chimney Rock is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Rock
  • Clyde
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Clyde is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Fieldville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Fieldville is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fieldville
  • Flagtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Flagtown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flagtown
  • Grandview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Grandview is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Green Knoll
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Green Knoll is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Knoll
  • Lanes Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lanes Crossing is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Crossing
  • Martinsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Martinsville is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsville
  • Middlebush
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Middlebush is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middlebush
  • Milltown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Milltown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • Mount Horeb
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mount Horeb is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Horeb
  • Plainville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Plainville is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainville
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Pleasant Plains
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Pleasant Plains is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Plains
    • Pleasantview
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Pleasantview is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantview
    • Possumtown
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Possumtown is located in Middlesex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Possumtown
    • Round Top
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Round Top is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Top
    • Woods Tavern
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Woods Tavern is located in Somerset County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Tavern

How Far From South Somerville to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of South Somerville once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in South Somerville and extending to:

  • Somerville, which is the Seat of Somerset County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<3> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from South Somerville to Trenton, with an average speed<4> 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 most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 171 miles [275.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,727 miles [9,216.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,433 miles [10,352.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • 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).<8>'

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 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 South Somerville 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about South Somerville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- South Somerville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 South Somerville 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 South Somerville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5357, Longitude: -74.6185       In this case, the coordinates for South Somerville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.325 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.922 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.008 degrees.