RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Piscataquis County >> West Dover >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Dover, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Dover 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 Dover:
    • 45.114502, -69.238934
    • 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 Dover
  • 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 Piscataquis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Piscataquis County
    • Since West Dover is near Penobscot County and also Somerset County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Penobscot County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset 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 Dover

Communities Also Named West Dover ...

We found four communities that are also named West Dover.

Within Maine, the name West Dover is unique.

Beyond Maine, 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 ...
    • Delaware
      • Kent County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Delaware community of West Dover [Kent County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Ohio
      • Cuyahoga County
      • This West Dover is located in Cuyahoga County and lies 685 miles [1,102.4 km]<2> to the west southwest of the West Dover that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cuyahoga County community of West Dover.
    • Vermont
      • Windham County
      • This West Dover is located in Windham County and lies 233 miles [375 km]<2> to the southwest of the West Dover that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windham County community of West Dover.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Dover ...

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.

  • Durbin Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Durbin Corner is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Durbin Corner
  • Earnest Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Earnest Corner is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Earnest Corner
  • Gordon Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Gordon Corner is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon Corner
  • Hicks Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Hicks Corner is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks Corner
  • Howard Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Howard Corner is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Corner
  • Jackman Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Jackman Corner is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jackman Corner
  • Knight Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Knight Corner is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knight Corner
  • Silvers Mills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Silvers Mills is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silvers Mills
  • Spooners Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Spooners Mill is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spooners Mill
  • Starbirds
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Starbirds is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starbirds
  • Twin Brook
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Twin Brook is located in Penobscot County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Brook

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

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

  • Dover - Foxcroft, which is the Seat of Piscataquis County, lies just to the North.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 61 miles [98.2 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from West Dover to Augusta, 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 about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 586 miles [943.1 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,324 miles [8,568.1 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 6,039 miles [9,718.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,914 miles [6,299 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Dover 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.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- West Dover) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 West Dover 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 Dover. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.1145, Longitude: -69.2389       In this case, the coordinates for West Dover have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 302.391 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 298.272 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 298.213 degrees.