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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Shore, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Shore 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 Shore:
    • 39.443164, -76.287179
    • 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 Shore
  • 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 Harford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford County
    • Since West Shore is near Baltimore County and also Kent County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent 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 Shore

Communities Also Named West Shore ...

We found five communities that are also named West Shore.

Within Maryland, the name West Shore is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven County
      • This West Shore is located in New Haven County and lies 214 miles [344.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the West Shore that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Haven County community of West Shore.
    • Delaware
      • Kent County
      • This West Shore is located in Kent County and lies 37 miles [59.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the West Shore that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of West Shore.
    • Kansas
      • Jefferson County
      • This West Shore is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,023 miles [1,646.4 km]<1> to the west of the West Shore that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of West Shore.
    • Montana
      • Lake 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 Montana community of West Shore [Lake County].
    • Washington
      • Skagit County
      • This West Shore is located in Skagit County and lies 2,344 miles [3,772.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the West Shore that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Skagit County community of West Shore.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Shore ...

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.

  • Bush
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Bush is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
  • Bush River
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Bush River is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush River
  • Clearview
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Clearview is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Constant Friendship
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Constant Friendship is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constant Friendship
  • Edgewater Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Edgewater Village is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater Village
  • Forest Greens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Forest Greens is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Greens
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Harbour Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Harbour Oaks is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbour Oaks
  • Ivy Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ivy Hill is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Hill
  • Joppa
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Joppa Landing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Joppa Landing is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa Landing
  • Long Bar Harbor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Long Bar Harbor is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Bar Harbor
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Magnolia
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Magnolia is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
    • Rivershore
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Rivershore is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivershore
    • Royal Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Royal Heights is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Heights
    • Singer
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Singer is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singer
    • Singer Woods
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Singer Woods is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singer Woods
    • Temple Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Temple Hills is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hills
    • Trimble Fields
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Trimble Fields is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trimble Fields
    • Wildwood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Wildwood is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood
    • Woodland Run
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Woodland Run is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Run

How Far From West Shore to ...

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

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

  • Bel Air, which is the Seat of Harford County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from West Shore to Annapolis, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 55 miles [88.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,843 miles [9,403.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,548 miles [10,538 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,425 miles [7,121.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Shore) 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 Shore 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Shore 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 Shore. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4432, Longitude: -76.2872       In this case, the coordinates for West Shore have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.409 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.978 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.183 degrees.