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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westminister, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westminister 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 Westminister:
    • 39.647334, -75.968556
    • 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 Westminister
  • 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 Cecil County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Since Westminister is near Chester County and also New Castle County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for New Castle 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 Westminister

Communities Also Named Westminister ...

We found three communities that are also named Westminister.

Within Maryland, the name Westminister is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Bibb County
      • This Westminister is located in Bibb County and lies 637 miles [1,025.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Westminister that is located in Cecil County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bibb County community of Westminister.
    • Missouri
      • Jackson 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 Missouri community of Westminister [Jackson County].
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford 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 North Carolina community of Westminister [Guilford County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westminister ...

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.

  • Blue Ball Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Blue Ball Village is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Ball Village
  • Blueball
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Blueball is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueball
  • Cedar Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar Hill is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
  • Forest Green Court
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Forest Green Court is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Green Court
  • Indian Falls
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Falls is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Falls
  • Leslie
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Leslie is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leslie
  • Marley Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Marley Village is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marley Village
  • Mechanic Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Mechanic Valley is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Valley
  • Nellys Corner ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Nellys Corner is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nellys Corner
  • Pleasant Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Ponds Edge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ponds Edge is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponds Edge
  • Prestige Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Prestige Village is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prestige Village
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Stony Chase Court
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Stony Chase Court is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Chase Court
    • Sunset Knoll
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Sunset Knoll is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Knoll
    • Sweet Grass Meadow
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Sweet Grass Meadow is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Grass Meadow
    • Timberbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Timberbrook is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberbrook
    • Union Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Union Valley is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Valley
    • Zion
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Zion is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

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

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

  • Elkton, which is the Seat of Cecil County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 53 miles [85.3 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Westminister to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 77 miles [123.9 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,821 miles [9,368 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,526 miles [10,502.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,403 miles [7,085.9 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' (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- Westminister) 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 Westminister 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 Westminister 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 Westminister. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6473, Longitude: -75.9686       In this case, the coordinates for Westminister have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.205 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.778 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.965 degrees.