RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Worcester County >> Halfway House >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Halfway House, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Halfway House 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 Halfway House:
    • 42.062041, -71.670345
    • 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 Halfway House
  • 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 Worcester County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Worcester County
    • Since Halfway House is near Providence County and also Windham County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Providence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Windham 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 Halfway House

Communities Also Named Halfway House ...

We found five communities that are also named Halfway House.

Within Massachusetts, the name Halfway House is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Kern County
      • This Halfway House is located in Kern County and lies 2,549 miles [4,102.2 km]<1> to the west of the Halfway House that is located in Worcester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kern County community of Halfway House.
    • Nevada
      • Lyon County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Lyon County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyon County community of Halfway House.
      • Pershing County
      • This community is historic and although located in Pershing County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pershing County community of Halfway House.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Newfoundland and Labrador community of Halfway House.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Montgomery County
      • This Halfway House is located in Montgomery County and lies 240 miles [386.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Halfway House that is located in Worcester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Halfway House.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Halfway House ...

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
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Branch Village is located in Providence County (RI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Branch Village
  • Centerville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Centerville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Field Station ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Field Station is located in Providence County (RI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Field Station
  • Fisherville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Fisherville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisherville
  • Forestdale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Forestdale is located in Providence County (RI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Graniteville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Graniteville is located in Providence County (RI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graniteville
  • Huntsville ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Huntsville is located in Providence County (RI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
  • Ironstone
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ironstone is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironstone
  • Lakeview Heights
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Lakeview Heights is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Heights
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Loveland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Loveland is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loveland
    • Mapleville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Mapleville is located in Providence County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapleville
    • Marions Camp
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Marions Camp is located in Worcester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marions Camp
    • Round Top
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Round Top is located in Providence County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Top
    • Slatersville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Slatersville is located in Providence County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slatersville
    • Union Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Union Village is located in Providence County (RI)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Village

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

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

  • Worcester, which is the Seat of Worcester County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Halfway House to Worcester, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 37 miles [59.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 356 miles [572.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,541 miles [8,917.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,248 miles [10,055.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,124 miles [6,636.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Halfway House) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Halfway House, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Halfway House 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.
<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 Halfway House 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 Halfway House. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0620, Longitude: -71.6703       In this case, the coordinates for Halfway House have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.384 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.981 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.996 degrees.