RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Rhode Island >> Kent County >> Crossways >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Crossways, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crossways 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 Crossways:
    • 41.655101, -71.464225
    • 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 Crossways
  • 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 Kent County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent County
    • Since Crossways is near Washington County and also Newport County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newport 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 Crossways

Curious and Interesting Names Near Crossways ...

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.

  • Anthony
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Anthony is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthony
  • Arctic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Arctic is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arctic
  • Birch Hill ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Birch Hill is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch Hill
  • Buttonwoods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Buttonwoods is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttonwoods
  • Centerville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Centerville is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Clyde
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clyde is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Cooks Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cooks Corner is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks Corner
  • Coventry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coventry is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry
  • Folly Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Folly Landing is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Folly Landing
  • Frenchtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Frenchtown is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
  • Frys Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Frys Corner is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frys Corner
  • Greenwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood is located in Kent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Harris
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Harris is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
    • Hillsgrove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Hillsgrove is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsgrove
    • Kettle Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Kettle Corner is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kettle Corner
    • Lincoln Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Lincoln Park is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
    • Longmeadow
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Longmeadow is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longmeadow
    • Meadow View
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Meadow View is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow View
    • Moosehorn Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Moosehorn Corner is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moosehorn Corner
    • Places Corner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Places Corner is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Places Corner
    • River Point
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • River Point is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Point
    • Rocky Point
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rocky Point is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point
    • Tarbox Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Tarbox Corner is located in Kent County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarbox Corner
    • Woods Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Woods Corner is located in Newport County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Corner

How Far From Crossways 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 Crossways 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<1> community of Crossways once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Crossways and extending to:

  • Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Crossways to Providence, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 349 miles [561.7 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,548 miles [8,928.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,253 miles [10,063.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,130 miles [6,646.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Crossways, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Crossways) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Crossways 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 Crossways. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6551, Longitude: -71.4642       In this case, the coordinates for Crossways have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.319 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.84 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.107 degrees.