Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bedford, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bedford and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bedford
- 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 Bedford:
- 42.490808, -71.276384
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Bedford
- 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 Middlesex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
- Since Bedford is near Essex County and also Suffolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Essex County
- eBird sighting report for Suffolk 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Bedford ...
We found 32 communities that share the name Bedford.
Within Massachusetts, the name Bedford is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, we know of another 32 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 32 communities, 27 are located in the United States and five are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Madison Parish
- This Bedford is located in Madison Parish and lies 1,288 miles [2,072.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison Parish community of Bedford.
- Red River Parish
- 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 Louisiana community of Bedford [Red River Parish].
- Manitoba
- This Bedford lies 1,285 miles [2,068 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- Michigan
- Calhoun County
- This Bedford is located in Calhoun County and lies 710 miles [1,142.6 km]<1> to the west of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Bedford.
- Wayne 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 Michigan community of Bedford [Wayne County].
- Missouri
- Montana
- Broadwater County
- This Bedford is located in Broadwater County and lies 1,982 miles [3,189.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broadwater County community of Bedford.
- Jefferson 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 Montana community of Bedford [Jefferson County].
- New Brunswick
- This Bedford lies 325 miles [523 km]<1> to the northeast of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Kings 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 New York community of Bedford [Kings County].
- Westchester County
- This Bedford is located in Westchester County and lies 150 miles [241.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of Bedford.
- North Carolina
- Nova Scotia
- This Bedford lies 410 miles [659.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Bedford lies 302 miles [486 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- Pennsylvania
- Quebec
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Bedford City
- This Bedford is located in Bedford City and lies 563 miles [906.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Bedford that is located in Middlesex County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford City community of Bedford.
- Shenandoah 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 Virginia community of Bedford [Shenandoah County].
- Washington
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bedford ...
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.
- Camp Ted
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Countryside
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Countryside have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
- Countryside is located in Middlesex County
- Fox Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Havenville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Havenville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havenville
- Havenville is located in Middlesex County
- Lakeview
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Lincoln
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Nutting Lake
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nutting Lake
- Nutting Lake is located in Middlesex County
- Plain
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Shaker Glen
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shaker Glen have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaker Glen
- Shaker Glen is located in Middlesex County
- Shakerhill
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shakerhill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shakerhill
- Shakerhill is located in Middlesex County
- Silver Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill
- Silver Hill is located in Middlesex County
- Silver Lake
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
- Silver Lake is located in Middlesex County
- Woods Corner
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woods Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Corner
- Woods Corner is located in Middlesex County
How Far From Bedford 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 Bedford to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bedford and extending to:
- Cambridge, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bedford to Cambridge, with an average speed<4> 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.
- Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take most of a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 390 miles [627.6 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,508 miles [8,864.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,216 miles [10,003.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,092 miles [6,585.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Bedford: www.town.bedford.ma.us/
The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bedford) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bedford. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4908, Longitude: -71.2764 |
| <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 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 Bedford 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> | 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> | 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. |
| <5> | 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 Bedford to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.086 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.717 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.602 degrees. |