RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Washington County >> Antietam >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Antietam, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Antietam 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 Antietam:
    • 39.416493, -77.742065
    • 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 Antietam
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Antietam is near Jefferson County and also Frederick County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick 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 Antietam

Communities Also Named Antietam ...

We found two communities that are also named Antietam.

Within Maryland, the name Antietam is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Lincoln 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 Kansas community of Antietam [Lincoln County].
    • Ohio
      • Trumbull County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Antietam [Trumbull County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Antietam ...

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.

  • Chestnut Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Chestnut Grove is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Grove
  • Flickersville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Flickersville is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flickersville
  • Gapland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Heatherfield
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Heatherfield is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heatherfield
  • Horse Shoe Bend
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Horse Shoe Bend is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horse Shoe Bend
  • Locust Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Locust Grove is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Locust Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Locust Valley is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Valley
  • Mount Pleasant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Jefferson County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Park Hall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Hall is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hall
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Pleasantville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Pleasantville is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
    • Porterstown
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Porterstown is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Porterstown
    • Red Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Red Hill is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
    • Rose Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Rose Hill is located in Jefferson County (WV)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Shepherdstown
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Springvale
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Springvale is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springvale

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Antietam and extending to:

  • Hagerstown, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<4> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Antietam to Hagerstown, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 73 miles [117.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 52 miles [83.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,905 miles [9,503.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,614 miles [10,644.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,490 miles [7,226 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Antietam 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Antietam, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Antietam) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<5>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.
<6>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 Antietam 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 Antietam. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4165, Longitude: -77.7421    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.276 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.958 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.815 degrees.