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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bloomsbury, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bloomsbury 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 Bloomsbury:
    • 39.263996, -76.729694
    • 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 Bloomsbury
  • 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 Baltimore County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore County
    • Since Bloomsbury is near Baltimore City and also Howard County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard 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 Bloomsbury

Communities Also Named Bloomsbury ...

We found two communities that are also named Bloomsbury.

Within Maryland, the name Bloomsbury is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Bloomsbury lies 2,027 miles [3,262.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Bloomsbury that is located in Baltimore County.
    • New Jersey
      • Hunterdon 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 Jersey community of Bloomsbury [Hunterdon County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bloomsbury ...

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.

  • Asylum ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Asylum is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asylum
  • Chestnut Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Elkridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Elkridge Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Elkridge Heights is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkridge Heights
  • Fair Brook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fair Brook is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Brook
  • Frederick Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Frederick Village is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederick Village
  • Gray
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Gray is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray
  • Grays Level
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Grays Level is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Level
  • Harristown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Harristown is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harristown
  • Hilltop
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hilltop is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hunting Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunting Ridge is located in Baltimore City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunting Ridge
  • Lawyers Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lawyers Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawyers Hill
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Orange Grove ‑ Historic
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Orange Grove is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Grove
    • Paradise
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Paradise is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise
    • Quail Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Quail Ridge is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
    • Relay
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Relay is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relay
    • Rockburn Commons
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Rockburn Commons is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockburn Commons
    • Rolling Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Rolling Heights is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Heights
    • Thistle
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Thistle is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thistle
    • Timber Point
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Timber Point is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Point
    • Timberview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Timberview is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberview
    • Violetville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Violetville is located in Baltimore City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violetville

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

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

  • Towson, which is the Seat of Baltimore County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bloomsbury to Towson, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 23 miles [37 km] to the south southeast (SSE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,869 miles [9,445.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,575 miles [10,581.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,452 miles [7,164.8 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 from Point A (ie- Bloomsbury) 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 Bloomsbury 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 Bloomsbury 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 Bloomsbury. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2640, Longitude: -76.7297       In this case, the coordinates for Bloomsbury have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.684 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.262 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.442 degrees.