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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Boylston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Boylston 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 West Boylston:
    • 42.366759, -71.785627
    • 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 West Boylston
  • 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 West Boylston is near Middlesex County and also Norfolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex 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 West Boylston

Communities Also Named West Boylston ...

We found one communities that are also named West Boylston.

Within Massachusetts, the name West Boylston is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, there is another community also named West Boylston in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Montgomery 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 Alabama community of West Boylston [Montgomery County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Boylston ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Berlin is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,731 people
  • Burncoat
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Burncoat is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burncoat
  • Carterville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Carterville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carterville
  • Duck Harbor ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Duck Harbor is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duck Harbor
  • Fairlawn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Fairlawn is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairlawn
  • Fullerville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Fullerville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullerville
  • June Street
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • June Street is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for June Street
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Pratts Junction
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pratts Junction is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratts Junction
  • Ruralville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Ruralville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruralville
  • Salisbury Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Salisbury Heights is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salisbury Heights
  • Union Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Union Hill is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
  • Unionville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Unionville is located in Worcester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Boylston and extending to:

  • Worcester, which is the Seat of Worcester County, lies just to the South.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 37 miles [59.5 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from West Boylston to Boston, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 364 miles [585.8 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,534 miles [8,906.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,242 miles [10,045.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,118 miles [6,627.3 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 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 West Boylston 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Boylston) 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 West Boylston 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 West Boylston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3668, Longitude: -71.7856       In this case, the coordinates for West Boylston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.41 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.061 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.895 degrees.