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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Swain, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Swain 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 Swain:
    • 39.125392, -74.800166
    • 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 Swain
  • 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 Cape May County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cape May County
    • Since Swain is near Cumberland County and also Sussex County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sussex 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 Swain

Communities Also Named Swain ...

We found eight communities that are also named Swain.

Within New Jersey, the name Swain is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Newton County
      • This Swain is located in Newton County and lies 1,038 miles [1,670.5 km]<1> to the west of the Swain that is located in Cape May County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newton County community of Swain.
    • Kentucky
      • McCreary County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Swain [McCreary County].
    • Mississippi
      • Washington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Swain [Washington County].
    • New York
      • Allegany County
      • This Swain is located in Allegany County and lies 281 miles [452.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Swain that is located in Cape May County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Swain.
    • North Carolina
      • Swain County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Swain [Swain County].
      • Washington County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Swain [Washington County].
    • Oregon
      • Lane County
      • This Swain is located in Lane County and lies 2,484 miles [3,997.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Swain that is located in Cape May County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lane County community of Swain.
    • South Carolina
      • Spartanburg County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Swain [Spartanburg County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Swain ...

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.

  • Bennys Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Bennys Landing is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bennys Landing
  • Cedar Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Dennisville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Dennisville is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennisville
  • Mayville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Mayville is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
  • Ocean View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Ocean View is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean View
  • Potato Island
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Potato Island is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Potato Island
  • Reeds Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Reeds Beach is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Beach
  • Scotch Bonnet
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Scotch Bonnet is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotch Bonnet
  • Sea Isle City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sea Isle City is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sea Isle City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,019 people
  • Shellbed Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Shellbed Landing is located in Cape May County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shellbed Landing

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

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

  • Cape May, which is the Seat of Cape May County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Swain to Cape May, with an average speed<4> 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 four to five hours.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 75 miles [120.7 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 121 miles [194.7 km] to the west (W). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,792 miles [9,321.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,493 miles [10,449.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,371 miles [7,034.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Swain) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Swain 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.
<3>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 Swain, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Swain 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 Swain. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1254, Longitude: -74.8002       In this case, the coordinates for Swain have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.563 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.967 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.689 degrees.