RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Howard County >> Centennial Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Centennial Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Centennial Lake 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 Centennial Lake:
    • 39.249273, -76.862752
    • 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 Centennial Lake
  • 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Centennial Lake is near Baltimore County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Centennial Lake

Communities Also Named Centennial Lake ...

We found one communities that are also named Centennial Lake.

Within Maryland, the name Centennial Lake is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Jersey
      • Burlington 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 New Jersey community of Centennial Lake [Burlington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Centennial Lake ...

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.

  • Cedar Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Woods is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Woods
  • Chapel Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Chapel Woods is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Woods
  • Chapelview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Chapelview is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapelview
  • Farside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Farside is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farside
  • Fox Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Fox Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hill
  • Gray Rock
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Gray Rock is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Rock
  • Gray Rock Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Gray Rock Farms is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Rock Farms
  • Harpers Choice
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Harpers Choice is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harpers Choice
  • Hilltop
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hilltop is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hobbits Glen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hobbits Glen is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbits Glen
  • Howard Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Howard Heights is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Heights
  • Jonestown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jonestown is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Locust Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Locust Park is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Park
    • Locust Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Locust Ridge is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Ridge
    • Long Reach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Long Reach is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Reach
    • Longfellow
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Longfellow is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longfellow
    • Maplewood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Maplewood is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood
    • Phelps Luck
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Phelps Luck is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps Luck
    • Pine Orchard
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Pine Orchard is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Orchard
    • Running Brook
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Running Brook is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Running Brook
    • Sky View
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Sky View is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky View
    • Thornbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Thornbrook is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornbrook
    • Thunder Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Thunder Hill is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thunder Hill
    • Timber Run
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Timber Run is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Run
    • Toll House
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Toll House is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toll House
    • Vantage Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Vantage Point is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vantage Point
    • Wheatfield Way
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Wheatfield Way is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatfield Way

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Centennial Lake and extending to:

  • Ellicott City, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Centennial Lake to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> 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 just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 26 miles [41.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,875 miles [9,454.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,581 miles [10,591.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,458 miles [7,174.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Centennial Lake 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>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- Centennial Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Centennial Lake 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 Centennial Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2493, Longitude: -76.8628       In this case, the coordinates for Centennial Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.764 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.35 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.504 degrees.