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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Newton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Newton 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 Newton:
    • 42.350097, -71.232833
    • 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 Newton
  • 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 Middlesex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Middlesex County
    • Since West Newton is near Norfolk County and also Suffolk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norfolk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Suffolk 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 Newton

Communities Also Named West Newton ...

We found five communities that are also named West Newton.

Within Massachusetts, the name West Newton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • This West Newton is located in Marion County and lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km]<1> to the west of the West Newton that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of West Newton.
    • Minnesota
      • Nicollet 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 Minnesota community of West Newton [Nicollet County].
      • Wabasha County
      • This West Newton is located in Wabasha County and lies 1,044 miles [1,680.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the West Newton that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wabasha County community of West Newton.
    • Ohio
      • Allen County
      • This West Newton is located in Allen County and lies 664 miles [1,068.6 km]<1> to the west of the West Newton that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen County community of West Newton.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Westmoreland County
      • This West Newton is located in Westmoreland County and lies 466 miles [750 km]<1> to the west southwest of the West Newton that is located in Middlesex County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of West Newton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Newton ...

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.

  • Camp Mary Day
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Camp Mary Day is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Mary Day
  • Camp Ted
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Camp Ted is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Ted
  • Cedarwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedarwood is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarwood
  • Chestnut Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Grantville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Grantville is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grantville
  • Highland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Highland is located in Suffolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Lakeview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lakeview is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Piety Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Piety Corner is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piety Corner
  • Reservoir
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Reservoir is located in Norfolk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir
  • Riverview
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Riverview is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Silver Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Silver Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill
  • Strawberry Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Strawberry Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry Hill
  • Tower Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Tower Hill is located in Middlesex County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tower Hill

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

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

  • Cambridge, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies just to the east (E).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 386 miles [621.2 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from West Newton to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 22 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,511 miles [8,869.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,219 miles [10,008.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,095 miles [6,590.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- West Newton) 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 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 Newton 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 Newton 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 Newton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3501, Longitude: -71.2328       In this case, the coordinates for West Newton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.081 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.688 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.654 degrees.