RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Anne Arundel County >> West River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West River 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 River:
    • 38.851294, -76.596309
    • 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 River
  • 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 Anne Arundel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anne Arundel County
    • Since West River is near Prince George's County and also Calvert County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calvert 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 River

Communities Also Named West River ...

We found six communities that are also named West River.

Within Maryland, the name West River is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Brunswick
      • This West River lies 760 miles [1,223.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the West River that is located in Anne Arundel County.
    • New York
      • Yates 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 River [Yates County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • This West River lies 875 miles [1,408.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the West River that is located in Anne Arundel County.
    • Ontario
      • This West River lies 567 miles [912.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the West River that is located in Anne Arundel County.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This West River lies 842 miles [1,355.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the West River that is located in Anne Arundel County.
    • Wyoming
      • Washakie County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of West River [Washakie County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near West River ...

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.

  • Bahama View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bahama View is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bahama View
  • Birdsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Birdsville is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdsville
  • Chalk Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chalk Point is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chalk Point
  • Chapel Knoll
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Chapel Knoll is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Knoll
  • Cherry Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cherry Point is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Point
  • Darnall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Darnall is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darnall
  • Galesville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Holly Landing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Holly Landing is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Landing
  • Hunt Chapel
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hunt Chapel is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Chapel
  • Merrywood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Merrywood is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrywood
  • Mill Swamp
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Mill Swamp is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Swamp
  • Rustic Knolls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Rustic Knolls is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustic Knolls
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...

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

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

  • Annapolis, which is the Seat of Anne Arundel County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from West River to Annapolis, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 10 miles [16.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). The buggy would take a little over three hours and walking would take four to five hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 23 miles [37 km] to the west (W). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,881 miles [9,464.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,584 miles [10,595.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,462 miles [7,180.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 River) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 River 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 River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 River 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 River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8513, Longitude: -76.5963    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.633 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.14 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.548 degrees.