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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Corners, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Corners 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 Corners:
    • 42.191766, -71.058382
    • 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 Corners
  • 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 Norfolk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk County
    • Since West Corners is near Suffolk County and also Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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 Corners

Communities Also Named West Corners ...

We found three communities that are also named West Corners.

Within Massachusetts, the name West Corners is unique.

Beyond Massachusetts, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New York
      • Broome County
      • This West Corners is located in Broome County and lies 256 miles [412 km]<1> to the west of the West Corners that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broome County community of West Corners.
      • Saratoga County
      • This West Corners is located in Saratoga County and lies 159 miles [255.9 km] to the west northwest of the West Corners that is located in Norfolk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saratoga County community of West Corners.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of West Corners.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Corners ...

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
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Braintree is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Braintree
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 37,074 people
  • Cedar Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Five Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Corners is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Four Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Four Corners is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Greenlodge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Greenlodge is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenlodge
  • Idlewell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Idlewell is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewell
  • Merrymount
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Merrymount is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrymount
  • Milton Center
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Milton Center is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton Center
  • Old Boat Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Old Boat Point is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Boat Point
  • Post Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Post Island is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Island
  • Randolph
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Randolph is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
    • Estimated population in 2019: 34,362 people
  • Readville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Readville is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Readville
  • Rock Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rock Island is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
  • Summer Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Summer Heights is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Heights

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of West Corners once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in West Corners and extending to:

  • Dedham, which is the Seat of Norfolk County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from West Corners to Boston, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 387 miles [622.8 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 16 days and walking would take 22 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 east northeast (ENE).<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>'

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- West Corners) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Corners 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>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 West Corners, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 West Corners 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 Corners. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1918, Longitude: -71.0584       In this case, the coordinates for West Corners have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.00 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.57 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.656 degrees.