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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Hill 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 Blue Hill:
    • 39.698147, -78.193619
    • 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 Blue Hill
  • 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 Blue Hill is near Morgan County and also Fulton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morgan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fulton 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 Blue Hill

Communities Also Named Blue Hill ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Blue Hill.

Within Maryland, the name Blue Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Pulaski County and lies 844 miles [1,358.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Blue Hill.
    • Kansas
      • Mitchell County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Mitchell County and lies 1,072 miles [1,725.2 km]<1> to the west of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mitchell County community of Blue Hill.
    • Maine
      • Hancock County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Hancock County and lies 589 miles [947.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Blue Hill.
    • Minnesota
      • Blue Hill #
      • This community is historichttp://www.waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&lat=39.698147&lon=-78.193619&t=6 and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Blue Hill.
    • Mississippi
      • Jefferson County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Jefferson County and lies 895 miles [1,440.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Blue Hill.
    • Nebraska
      • Webster County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Webster County and lies 1,069 miles [1,720.4 km]<1> to the west of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster County community of Blue Hill.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Blue Hill lies 708 miles [1,139.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Delaware County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Delaware County and lies 148 miles [238.2 km]<1> to the east of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Blue Hill.
      • Snyder 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 Pennsylvania community of Blue Hill [Snyder County].
    • Tennessee
      • Warren County
      • This Blue Hill is located in Warren County and lies 499 miles [803.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Hill that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Blue Hill.
    • Wyoming
      • Natrona County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Blue Hill [Natrona County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Hill ...

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.

  • Bath
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bath is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 587 people
  • Burnt Factory
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Burnt Factory is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Factory
  • Dogtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dogtown is located in Fulton County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
  • Forest Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Forest Park is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Harvey
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Harvey is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvey
  • Jimtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jimtown is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown
  • Ridersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Ridersville is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridersville
  • Roundtop ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Roundtop is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundtop
  • Shady Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Shady Grove is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
  • Sir Johns Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Sir Johns Run is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sir Johns Run
  • Stanley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Stanley is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
  • Timber Ridge Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Timber Ridge Heights is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge Heights

How Far From Blue Hill to ...

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

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

  • Hagerstown, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Hill to Hagerstown, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 103 miles [165.8 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 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 82 miles [132 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,912 miles [9,514.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,623 miles [10,658.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,499 miles [7,240.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Blue Hill) 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 Blue Hill 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>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 Blue Hill, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Blue Hill 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 Blue Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6981, Longitude: -78.1936       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.529 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.289 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.902 degrees.