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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Bridgewater, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Bridgewater 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 Bridgewater:
    • 42.018989, -71.007822
    • 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 Bridgewater
  • 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 West Bridgewater is near Bristol County and also Norfolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bristol 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 Bridgewater

Communities Also Named West Bridgewater ...

We found two communities that are also named West Bridgewater.

Within Massachusetts, the name West Bridgewater is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Beaver 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 Pennsylvania community of West Bridgewater [Beaver County].
    • Vermont
      • Rutland County
      • This West Bridgewater is located in Rutland County and lies 140 miles [225.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the West Bridgewater that is located in Plymouth County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutland County community of West Bridgewater.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Bridgewater ...

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.

  • Beaver
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Beaver is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
  • Camp Titicut
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Camp Titicut is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Titicut
  • Curtisville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Curtisville is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtisville
  • Elm Square
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Elm Square is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Square
  • Five Corners
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Five Corners is located in Bristol County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Manleys Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Manleys Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manleys Corner
  • Marshall Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Marshall Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Corner
  • Paper Mill Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Paper Mill Village is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paper Mill Village
  • Pratts Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Pratts Corner is located in Bristol County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratts Corner
  • Scotland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Scotland is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotland
  • Stanley
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Stanley is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
  • Winters Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Winters Corner is located in Plymouth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winters Corner

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

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

  • Plymouth, which is the Seat of Plymouth County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Bridgewater 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 23 miles [37 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 382 miles [614.8 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 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,515 miles [8,875.5 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 6,220 miles [10,010.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,097 miles [6,593.5 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 West Bridgewater 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 '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 Bridgewater) 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 Bridgewater 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 Bridgewater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0190, Longitude: -71.0078       In this case, the coordinates for West Bridgewater have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.995 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.536 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.722 degrees.