RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Rhode Island >> Washington County >> Cold Spring Beach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cold Spring Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cold Spring Beach 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 Cold Spring Beach:
    • 41.566768, -71.443390
    • 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 Cold Spring Beach
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Cold Spring Beach is near Newport County and also Kent County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newport County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent 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 Cold Spring Beach

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cold Spring Beach ...

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.

  • Bonnet Shores
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bonnet Shores is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnet Shores
  • Bridgetown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bridgetown is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridgetown
  • Cooks Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cooks Corner is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks Corner
  • Crossways ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Crossways is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossways
  • Fisherville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Fisherville is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisherville
  • Frenchtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Frenchtown is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
  • Frys Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Frys Corner is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frys Corner
  • Jamestown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jamestown is located in Newport County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Jamestown Shores
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jamestown Shores is located in Newport County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown Shores
  • Liberty
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Liberty is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Places Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Places Corner is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Places Corner
  • Plum Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Plum Beach is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Beach
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Plum Point
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Plum Point is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum Point
    • Prudence Park
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Prudence Park is located in Newport County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prudence Park
    • Tower Hill ‑ Historic
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Tower Hill is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Hill
    • Woods Corner
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Woods Corner is located in Newport County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Corner

How Far From Cold Spring Beach 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 Cold Spring Beach to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Wakefield, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cold Spring Beach to Wakefield, 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.
  • Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies 17 miles [27.4 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 347 miles [558.4 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,551 miles [8,933.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,255 miles [10,066.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,132 miles [6,649.8 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cold Spring Beach) 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 Cold Spring Beach 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 Cold Spring Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5668, Longitude: -71.4434       In this case, the coordinates for Cold Spring Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.319 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.825 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.142 degrees.