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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wallum Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wallum Lake 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 Wallum Lake:
    • 41.999265, -71.760625
    • 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 Wallum Lake
  • 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 Wallum Lake is near Windham County and also Worcester County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Windham County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Worcester 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 Wallum Lake

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wallum Lake ...

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.

  • Chaseville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Chaseville is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaseville
  • Clarkville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Clarkville is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarkville
  • Graniteville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Graniteville is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graniteville
  • Halfway House
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Halfway House is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halfway House
  • Huntsville ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Huntsville is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
  • Ironstone
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Ironstone is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironstone
  • Lakeview Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakeview Heights is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
  • Loveland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Loveland is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveland
  • Mapleville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Mapleville is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleville
  • Mechanicsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Windham County (CT)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Round Top
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Round Top is located in Providence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Top
  • Sunnyside
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunnyside is located in Worcester County (MA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside

How Far From Wallum Lake 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 Wallum Lake 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 Wallum Lake once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Wallum Lake and extending to:

  • Providence, which is the Seat of Providence County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Wallum Lake to Providence, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies 21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 350 miles [563.3 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 20 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,547 miles [8,927 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,254 miles [10,064.8 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 Wallum Lake, 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wallum Lake) 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 Wallum Lake 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 Wallum Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9993, Longitude: -71.7606       In this case, the coordinates for Wallum Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.447 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.041 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.067 degrees.