RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Montgomery County >> Westerly >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westerly, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westerly 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 Westerly:
    • 39.137606, -77.413598
    • 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 Westerly
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Westerly is near Loudoun County and also Frederick County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick 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 Westerly

Communities Also Named Westerly ...

We found four communities that are also named Westerly.

Within Maryland, the name Westerly is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Westerly lies 860 miles [1,384 km]<1> to the northeast of the Westerly that is located in Montgomery County.
    • Rhode Island
      • Kent 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 Rhode Island community of Westerly [Kent County].
      • Washington County
      • This Westerly is located in Washington County and lies 332 miles [534.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Westerly that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Westerly.
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette County
      • This Westerly is located in Fayette County and lies 225 miles [362.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Westerly that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Westerly.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westerly ...

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.

  • Big Woods Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Big Woods Acres is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Woods Acres
  • Dawsonville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Dawsonville is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawsonville
  • Edwards Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Edwards Ferry is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards Ferry
  • Elizabeths Delight
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Elizabeths Delight is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeths Delight
  • Elmer
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Elmer is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmer
  • Jerusalem
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jerusalem is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem
  • Jonesville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jonesville is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
  • Lees Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lees Corner is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Corner
  • Martinsburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Martinsburg is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsburg
  • Natural Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Natural Woods is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natural Woods
  • Sugarland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Sugarland is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarland

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

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

  • Rockville, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Westerly to Rockville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,903 miles [9,500 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,610 miles [10,637.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,487 miles [7,221.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Westerly) 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 Westerly 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 Westerly 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 Westerly. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1376, Longitude: -77.4136       In this case, the coordinates for Westerly have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.097 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.712 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.781 degrees.