RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Hancock County >> Bar Harbor >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bar Harbor, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bar Harbor 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 Bar Harbor:
    • 44.387533, -68.204310
    • 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 Bar Harbor
  • 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 Hancock County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hancock County
    • Since Bar Harbor is near Washington County and also Knox County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Knox 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 Bar Harbor

Communities Also Named Bar Harbor ...

We found one communities that are also named Bar Harbor.

Within Maine, the name Bar Harbor is unique.

Beyond Maine, there is another community also named Bar Harbor in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Bar Harbor is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 559 miles [899.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Bar Harbor that is located in Hancock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Bar Harbor.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bar Harbor ...

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.

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

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

  • Ellsworth, which is the Seat of Hancock County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth, 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.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the west (W). 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 592 miles [952.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,307 miles [8,540.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,018 miles [9,685 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,893 miles [6,265.2 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- Bar Harbor) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Bar Harbor 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 Bar Harbor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3875, Longitude: -68.2043    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 301.895 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 297.59 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 298.137 degrees.