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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Caldwell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Caldwell 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 West Caldwell:
    • 40.841225, -74.301686
    • 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 West Caldwell
  • 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 Essex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Essex County
    • Since West Caldwell is near Morris County and also Passaic County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morris County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Passaic 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 West Caldwell

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Caldwell ...

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.

  • Ampere
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Ampere is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ampere
  • Birch Hills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Birch Hills is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch Hills
  • Cedar Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Fox Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Fox Hill is located in Morris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hill
  • Franklin
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Franklin is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Great Notch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Great Notch is located in Passaic County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Notch
  • Little Falls
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Maplewood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Meadow Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadow Village is located in Essex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Village
  • Mountain View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mountain View is located in Passaic County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Nutley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Orange
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Packanack Lake
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Packanack Lake is located in Passaic County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Packanack Lake
    • Preakness
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Rosedale Village
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Rosedale Village is located in Morris County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale Village
    • Short Hills
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Short Hills is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Short Hills
    • Two Bridges
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Two Bridges is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Bridges
    • Wyoming
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Wyoming is located in Essex County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyoming

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

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

  • Newark, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Caldwell to Newark, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Trenton, which is the State Capital of New Jersey, lies 49 miles [78.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 197 miles [317 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,701 miles [9,174.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,408 miles [10,312.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,284 miles [6,894.4 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- West Caldwell) 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 West Caldwell 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 West Caldwell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8412, Longitude: -74.3017    
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.105 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.722 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.735 degrees.