RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> San Mateo County >> Belle Haven >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Belle Haven, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Belle Haven 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 Belle Haven:
    • 37.476389, -122.158611
    • 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 Belle Haven
  • 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 San Mateo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Mateo County
    • Since Belle Haven is near Santa Clara County and also Alameda County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Santa Clara County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda 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 Belle Haven

Communities Also Named Belle Haven ...

We found nine communities that are also named Belle Haven.

Within California, the name Belle Haven is unique.

Beyond California, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,991 miles [3,204.2 km]<1> to the east of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Belle Haven.
    • Connecticut
      • Fairfield County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Fairfield County and lies 2,573 miles [4,140.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Belle Haven.
    • Florida
      • Pinellas County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Belle Haven [Pinellas County].
    • Maryland
      • Wicomico County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Wicomico County and lies 2,504 miles [4,029.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wicomico County community of Belle Haven.
    • Minnesota
      • Blue Earth County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Blue Earth County and lies 1,535 miles [2,470.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blue Earth County community of Belle Haven.
    • Virginia
      • Accomack County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Accomack County and lies 2,511 miles [4,041.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Accomack County community of Belle Haven.
      • Fairfax County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Fairfax County and lies 2,425 miles [3,902.7 km] to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Belle Haven.
      • Roanoke County
      • This Belle Haven is located in Roanoke County and lies 2,293 miles [3,690.2 km] to the east northeast of the Belle Haven that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Belle Haven.
      • Virginia Beach City
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Belle Haven [Virginia Beach City].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Belle Haven ...

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.

  • Crescent Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Crescent Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Evergreen Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Evergreen Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Park
  • Fair Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Meadow Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Park
  • Neal
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Neal is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neal
  • Park Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Park Forest is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
  • Professorville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Professorville is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Professorville
  • Ravenswood
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Ravenswood is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
  • University Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • University Heights is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
  • Vintage Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Vintage Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Oaks

How Far From Belle Haven to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Belle Haven to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Belle Haven and extending to:

  • Redwood City, which is the Seat of San Mateo County, lies just to the West.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Belle Haven to Sacramento, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,425 miles [3,902.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 95 days and walking would take 138 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,429 miles [11,955.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,196 miles [13,190.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Belle Haven) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Belle Haven 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.
<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 Belle Haven 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 Belle Haven. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4764, Longitude: -122.1586       In this case, the coordinates for Belle Haven have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.951 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.838 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.004 degrees.