RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> McDonald County >> Bethpage >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bethpage, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bethpage 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 Bethpage:
    • 36.690071, -94.236323
    • 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 Bethpage
  • 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 McDonald County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McDonald County
    • Since Bethpage is near Newton County and also Barry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barry 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 Bethpage

Communities Also Named Bethpage ...

We found four communities that are also named Bethpage.

Within Missouri, the name Bethpage is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New York
      • Nassau County
      • This Bethpage is located in Nassau County and lies 1,149 miles [1,849.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Bethpage that is located in McDonald County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nassau County community of Bethpage.
      • Queens 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 New York community of Bethpage [Queens County].
    • Tennessee
      • Humphreys County
      • This Bethpage is located in Humphreys County and lies 370 miles [595.5 km]<1> to the east of the Bethpage that is located in McDonald County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humphreys County community of Bethpage.
      • Sumner County
      • This Bethpage is located in Sumner County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km] to the east of the Bethpage that is located in McDonald County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumner County community of Bethpage.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bethpage ...

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.

  • Boulder City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Boulder City is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder City
  • Christopher
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Christopher is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christopher
  • Cyclone
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Cyclone is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cyclone
  • Deep Ford
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Deep Ford is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Ford
  • Erie
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Erie is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Griffin Ford
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Griffin Ford is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Griffin Ford
  • Longview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Longview is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Plainview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Plainview is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
  • Rocky Comfort
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rocky Comfort is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Comfort
  • Sugar Beach
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Sugar Beach is located in McDonald County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Beach
  • Sweetwater
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Sweetwater is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
  • Wanda
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Wanda is located in Newton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wanda

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

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

  • Pineville, which is the Seat of McDonald County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Bethpage to Pineville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 172 miles [276.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 949 miles [1,527.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,685 miles [10,758.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,423 miles [11,946.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,305 miles [8,537.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Bethpage) 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 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 Bethpage 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 Bethpage 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 Bethpage. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.6901, Longitude: -94.2363       In this case, the coordinates for Bethpage have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.632 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.457 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.933 degrees.