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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Farms, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Farms 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 Farms:
    • 42.185369, -72.777317
    • 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 Farms
  • 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 Hampden County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hampden County
    • Since West Farms is near Hampshire County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hampshire County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Farms

Communities Also Named West Farms ...

We found four communities that are also named West Farms.

There is one other community in Massachusetts that is also named West Farms.

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

  • Communities Located In Massachusetts ...
    • Hampshire County
      • This West Farms is located in Hampshire County and lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the West Farms that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hampshire County community of West Farms.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Jersey
      • Monmouth County
      • This West Farms is located in Monmouth County and lies 156 miles [251.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the West Farms that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monmouth County community of West Farms.
    • New York
      • Bronx County
      • This West Farms is located in Bronx County and lies 108 miles [173.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the West Farms that is located in Hampden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bronx County community of West Farms.
      • Westchester County
      • 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 New York community of West Farms [Westchester County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Farms ...

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.

  • Cayenne
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cayenne is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cayenne
  • Chicopee
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Chicopee is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chicopee
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 54,825 people
  • Crescent Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Crescent Mills is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Mills
  • Feeding Hills
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Feeding Hills is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Feeding Hills
  • Great Swamp
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Great Swamp is located in Hampshire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Swamp
  • Knightville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Knightville is located in Hampshire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knightville
  • Little River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Little River is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
  • Littleville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Littleville is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleville
  • Loudville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Loudville is located in Hampshire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loudville
  • Mountain Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Mountain Park is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Rock Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rock Valley is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Valley
  • Sandy Hill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sandy Hill is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hill
  • Trainfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Trainfield is located in Hampden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trainfield

How Far From West Farms to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs 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 Farms to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Springfield, which is the Seat of Hampden County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Farms to Springfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 88 miles [141.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 318 miles [511.8 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,583 miles [8,985 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,293 miles [10,127.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,168 miles [6,707.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- West Farms) 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 Farms 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>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 Farms 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 Farms. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1854, Longitude: -72.7773       In this case, the coordinates for West Farms have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.032 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.731 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.432 degrees.