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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Beantown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Beantown 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 Beantown:
    • 38.614563, -76.941362
    • 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 Beantown
  • 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 Charles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles County
    • Since Beantown is near Prince George's County and also Fairfax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax 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 Beantown

Communities Also Named Beantown ...

We found two communities that are also named Beantown.

There is one other community in Maryland that is also named Beantown.

Beyond Maryland, there is another community also named Beantown in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Maryland ...
    • Montgomery County
      • This Beantown is located in Montgomery County and lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Beantown that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Beantown.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New York
      • Chemung 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 Beantown [Chemung County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Beantown ...

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.

  • Bannister
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bannister is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bannister
  • Berry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Berry is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berry
  • Bolton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bolton is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
  • Constitution Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Constitution Hills is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constitution Hills
  • Deerwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Deerwood is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Delight
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Delight is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delight
  • Forest Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Forest Grove is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Grove
  • Fox Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fox Run is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Holly Station
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Holly Station is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Station
  • Hunters Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Lynnbrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lynnbrook is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynnbrook
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Lyons Corner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Lyons Corner is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons Corner
    • Spring Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Spring Valley is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Springhaven
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Springhaven is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhaven
    • Turkey Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Turkey Hill is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Hill

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

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

  • La Plata, which is the Seat of Charles County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Beantown to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 20 miles [32.2 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The shortest distance<4> 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).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,486 miles [7,219.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Beantown) 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 Beantown 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 Beantown 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 Beantown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6146, Longitude: -76.9414       In this case, the coordinates for Beantown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.851 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.351 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.783 degrees.