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 Johnston:
41.820610, -71.512795
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.
We found twelve communities that share the name Johnston.
Within Rhode Island, the name Johnston is unique.
Beyond Rhode Island, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eleven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alaska
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 Alaska community of Johnston.
Arkansas
Columbia County
This Johnston is located in Columbia County and lies 1,319 miles [2,122.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Johnston.
California
Sacramento 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 California community of Johnston [Sacramento County].
Iowa
Polk County
This Johnston is located in Polk County and lies 1,140 miles [1,834.7 km]<2> to the west of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Johnston.
Manitoba
We haven't found the location of this community yet.
Michigan
Otsego 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 Michigan community of Johnston [Otsego County].
Mississippi
Lincoln County
This Johnston is located in Lincoln County and lies 1,209 miles [1,945.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Johnston.
Ohio
Trumbull County
This Johnston is located in Trumbull County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<2> to the west of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Trumbull County community of Johnston.
Tuscarawas County
This Johnston is located in Tuscarawas County and lies 519 miles [835.2 km] to the west of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscarawas County community of Johnston.
Pennsylvania
Franklin County
This Johnston is located in Franklin County and lies 355 miles [571.3 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Johnston.
South Carolina
Edgefield County
This Johnston is located in Edgefield County and lies 785 miles [1,263.3 km]<2> to the southwest of the Johnston that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Edgefield County community of Johnston.
Tennessee
Shelby 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 Tennessee community of Johnston [Shelby County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Johnston ...
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.
Christian Hill (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Christian Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Dyerville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
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 Johnston to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Johnston and extending to:
The White House (Washington, DC) is 353 miles [568.1 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Johnston to White House, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 20 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 14 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,544 miles [8,922.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,249 miles [10,056.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,126 miles [6,640.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>
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 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 Johnston 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>
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- Johnston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Johnston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8206, Longitude: -71.5128 In this case, the coordinates for Johnston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<3>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>
An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<5>
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.
<6>
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 Johnston to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.325 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.874 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.046 degrees.