RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Plymouth County >> Sand Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sand Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sand 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 Sand Hills:
    • 42.209824, -70.725041
    • 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 Sand Hills
  • 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 Plymouth County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Plymouth County
    • Since Sand Hills is near Suffolk County and also Norfolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk 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 Sand Hills

Communities Also Named Sand Hills ...

We found four communities that are also named Sand Hills.

Within Massachusetts, the name Sand Hills is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Hawaii
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Hawaii community of Sand Hills.
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex County
      • This Sand Hills is located in Middlesex County and lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Sand Hills that is located in Plymouth County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Sand Hills.
      • Sussex County
      • This Sand Hills is located in Sussex County and lies 207 miles [333.1 km] to the west southwest of the Sand Hills that is located in Plymouth County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Sand Hills.
    • Texas
      • Ward County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Sand Hills [Ward County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sand 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.

  • Clapps Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Clapps Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clapps Corner
  • Egypt
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Egypt is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt
  • Egypt Beach
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Egypt Beach is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egypt Beach
  • First Cliff
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • First Cliff is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Cliff
  • Fourth Cliff
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fourth Cliff is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fourth Cliff
  • Greenbush
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenbush is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenbush
  • Kings Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Kings Landing is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Landing
  • Little Bridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Little Bridge is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Bridge
  • Reeds Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Reeds Corner is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeds Corner
  • Sea View
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Sea View is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sea View
  • Second Cliff
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Second Cliff is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Second Cliff
  • Third Cliff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Third Cliff is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Third Cliff

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

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

  • Plymouth, which is the Seat of Plymouth County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Sand Hills to Plymouth, with an average speed<3> 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 five to six hours.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 19 miles [30.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 402 miles [647 km] to the west southwest (WSW). 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,495 miles [8,843.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,201 miles [9,979.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,077 miles [6,561.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Sand 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Sand Hills) 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 Sand Hills 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 Sand Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.2098, Longitude: -70.7250       In this case, the coordinates for Sand Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.798 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.346 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.498 degrees.