RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Bell County >> Westcliff >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Westcliff, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Westcliff 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 Westcliff:
    • 31.115177, -97.516401
    • 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 Westcliff
  • 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 Bell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bell County
    • Since Westcliff is near Coryell County and also McLennan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coryell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McLennan 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 Westcliff

Communities Also Named Westcliff ...

We found three communities that are also named Westcliff.

Within Texas, the name Westcliff is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Rowan County
      • This Westcliff is located in Rowan County and lies 1,027 miles [1,652.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Westcliff that is located in Bell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rowan County community of Westcliff.
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This Westcliff is located in Aiken County and lies 933 miles [1,501.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Westcliff that is located in Bell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aiken County community of Westcliff.
      • Greenville 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 South Carolina community of Westcliff [Greenville County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Westcliff ...

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.

  • Bland
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Bland is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bland
  • Cold Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Cold Springs is located in Coryell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Curry Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Curry Crossing is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Crossing
  • Dog Ridge ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Dog Ridge is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dog Ridge
  • Hobbs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hobbs is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbs
  • Lone Star
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Lone Star is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Star
  • Owl Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Owl Creek is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Owl Creek
  • Temple
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Union Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Union Grove is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove
  • Union Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Union Hill is located in Bell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

How Far From Westcliff to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Westcliff to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Belton, which is the Seat of Bell County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 60 miles [96.6 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Westcliff to Austin, with an average speed<4> 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 1,273 miles [2,048.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,099 miles [11,424.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,831 miles [12,602.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,708 miles [9,186.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Westcliff) 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 Westcliff 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Westcliff 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 Westcliff. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.1152, Longitude: -97.5164       In this case, the coordinates for Westcliff have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.194 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.575 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.147 degrees.