RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Massachusetts





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Hills 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 Blue Hills:
    • 42.243155, -71.098106
    • 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 Blue Hills
  • 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 Blue Hills ...

We found six communities that share the name Blue Hills.

Within Massachusetts, the name Blue Hills is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Blue Hills lies 2,393 miles [3,851.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blue Hills that is located in Norfolk County.
    • California
      • Santa Clara County
      • This Blue Hills is located in Santa Clara County and lies 2,684 miles [4,319.5 km]<1> to the west of the Blue Hills that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Clara County community of Blue Hills.
    • Connecticut
      • Hartford County
      • This Blue Hills is located in Hartford County and lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Hills that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hartford County community of Blue Hills.
    • Mississippi
      • Claiborne 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 Mississippi community of Blue Hills [Claiborne County].
    • Quebec
      • This Blue Hills lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Blue Hills that is located in Norfolk County.
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke City
      • This Blue Hills is located in Roanoke City and lies 579 miles [931.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Hills that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of Blue Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Hills ...

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.

  • Braintree
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braintree
    • Braintree is located in Norfolk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 37,074 people
  • Cedar Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
    • Cedar Grove is located in Suffolk County
  • Fields Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fields Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields Corner
    • Fields Corner is located in Suffolk County
  • Five Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
    • Five Corners is located in Norfolk County
  • Greenlodge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenlodge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenlodge
    • Greenlodge is located in Norfolk County
  • Grove Hall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove Hall have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Hall
    • Grove Hall is located in Suffolk County
  • Highland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
    • Highland is located in Suffolk County
  • Meeting House Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meeting House Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeting House Hill
    • Meeting House Hill is located in Suffolk County
  • Merrymount
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Merrymount have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrymount
    • Merrymount is located in Norfolk County
  • Milton Center
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Milton Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton Center
    • Milton Center is located in Norfolk County
  • Mount Hope
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
    • Mount Hope is located in Suffolk County
  • Readville
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Readville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readville
    • Readville is located in Suffolk County
  • Summer Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summer Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Heights
    • Summer Heights is located in Norfolk County

How Far From Blue Hills 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 Blue Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Dedham, which is the Seat of Norfolk County, lies just to the West.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies just to the north northeast (NNE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 387 miles [622.8 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Blue Hills to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 22 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,510 miles [8,867.5 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 4,093 miles [6,587 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blue Hills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Norfolk County: www.norfolkcounty.org/

The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Blue Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blue Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2432, Longitude: -71.0981       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Blue Hills 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 Blue Hills 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 304.016 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.597 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.648 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024