RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Giles County >> Westside >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westside, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westside 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 Westside:
    • 35.188414, -87.213348
    • 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 Westside
  • 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 Giles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Giles County
    • Since Westside is near Lawrence County and also Lauderdale County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lauderdale 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 Westside

Communities Also Named Westside ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Westside.

Within Tennessee, the name Westside is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of thirteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these thirteen communities, twelve are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Lee County
      • This Westside is located in Lee County and lies 203 miles [326.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Westside.
    • British Columbia
      • This Westside lies 1,910 miles [3,073.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
    • California
      • Fresno County
      • This Westside is located in Fresno County and lies 1,837 miles [2,956.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fresno County community of Westside.
      • San Bernardino 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 California community of Westside [San Bernardino County].
      • Stanislaus County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Westside [Stanislaus County].
    • Florida
      • Volusia 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 Florida community of Westside [Volusia County].
    • Georgia
      • Catoosa County
      • This Westside is located in Catoosa County and lies 113 miles [181.9 km]<1> to the east of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catoosa County community of Westside.
      • Hall County
      • This Westside is located in Hall County and lies 201 miles [323.5 km] to the east southeast of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Westside.
    • Indiana
      • Dearborn County
      • This Westside is located in Dearborn County and lies 296 miles [476.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dearborn County community of Westside.
    • Iowa
      • Crawford County
      • This Westside is located in Crawford County and lies 636 miles [1,023.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of Westside.
    • Louisiana
      • Rapides Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Westside [Rapides Parish].
    • Mississippi
      • Claiborne County
      • This Westside is located in Claiborne County and lies 319 miles [513.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Westside that is located in Giles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Claiborne County community of Westside.
    • North Carolina
      • Rowan 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 Westside [Rowan County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westside ...

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.

  • Center Point
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Center Point is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
  • Crossroads
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Crossroads is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
  • Fall River
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fall River is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fall River
  • Goodspring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodspring is located in Giles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodspring
  • Gum Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Gum Springs is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Springs
  • Hickory Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Heights is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Heights
  • Hood Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Hood Lake is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hood Lake
  • Idaho
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Idaho is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idaho
  • Mars Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mars Hill is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
  • Meadowview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Meadowview is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
  • Oak Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in Giles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Seven ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Seven is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven
  • Shady Grove ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Shady Grove is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove

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

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

  • Pulaski, which is the Seat of Giles County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Westside to Pulaski, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 71 miles [114.3 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 616 miles [991.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,488 miles [10,441.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,205 miles [11,595.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,080 miles [8,175.5 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Westside) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Westside 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 Westside 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 Westside. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.1884, Longitude: -87.2133       In this case, the coordinates for Westside have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.02 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.915 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.10 degrees.