RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in North Smithfield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to North Smithfield 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 North Smithfield:
    • 41.965211, -71.550774
    • 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 North Smithfield
  • 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 Providence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Providence County
    • Since North Smithfield is near Worcester County and also Norfolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Worcester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk 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 North Smithfield

Communities Also Named North Smithfield ...

We found one communities that are also named North Smithfield.

Within Rhode Island, the name North Smithfield is unique.

Beyond Rhode Island, there is another community also named North Smithfield in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Massachusetts
      • Worcester 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 Massachusetts community of North Smithfield [Worcester County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near North Smithfield ...

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.

  • Branch Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Field Station ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Field Station is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Field Station
  • Forestdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Forestdale is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Globe
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Globe is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Globe
  • Hamlet
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Manville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Manville is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manville
  • Slatersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Social
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Social is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Social
  • Stillwater
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stillwater is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwater
  • Union Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Union Village is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Village

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in North Smithfield and extending to:

  • Providence, which is the Seat of Providence County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from North Smithfield 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.
  • Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies 12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 357 miles [574.5 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,540 miles [8,915.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,246 miles [10,052 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,122 miles [6,633.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 North Smithfield 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- North Smithfield) 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 North Smithfield 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 North Smithfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9652, Longitude: -71.5508    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.327 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.90 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.991 degrees.