RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Prince George's County >> Columbia Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Columbia Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Columbia Park 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 Columbia Park:
    • 38.917612, -76.888306
    • 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 Columbia Park
  • 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 Prince George's County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Since Columbia Park is near Montgomery County and also Arlington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arlington 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 Columbia Park

Communities Also Named Columbia Park ...

We found six communities that are also named Columbia Park.

There is one other community in Maryland that is also named Columbia Park.

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

  • Communities Located In Maryland ...
    • Charles County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Charles County and lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Columbia Park that is located in Prince George's County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charles County community of Columbia Park.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Contra Costa 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 California community of Columbia Park [Contra Costa County].
    • Ohio
      • Cuyahoga County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Cuyahoga County and lies 315 miles [506.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Columbia Park that is located in Prince George's County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cuyahoga County community of Columbia Park.
      • Hamilton 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 Ohio community of Columbia Park [Hamilton County].
    • Virginia
      • Chesterfield County
      • This Columbia Park is located in Chesterfield County and lies 113 miles [181.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Columbia Park that is located in Prince George's County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chesterfield County community of Columbia Park.
      • Prince George 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 Virginia community of Columbia Park [Prince George County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Columbia Park ...

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.

  • Brightseat
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Brightseat is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brightseat
  • Chapel Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Chapel Oaks is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Oaks
  • Dodge Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Dodge Park is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodge Park
  • Huntsville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Huntsville is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
  • Kent Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Kent Village is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Village
  • Kentland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Kentland is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentland
  • Pepper Mill Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pepper Mill Village is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pepper Mill Village
  • Radiant Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Radiant Valley is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radiant Valley
  • Randolph Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Randolph Village is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph Village
  • Rogers Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Rogers Heights is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers Heights
  • Royale Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Royale Gardens is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royale Gardens
  • Tuxedo
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Tuxedo is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuxedo
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Tuxedo Colony
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Tuxedo Colony is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuxedo Colony
    • White House Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • White House Heights is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White House Heights
    • Woodlawn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Woodlawn is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Yorkshire Knolls
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Yorkshire Knolls is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire Knolls

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

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

  • Upper Marlboro, which is the Seat of Prince George's County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Columbia Park to Upper Marlboro, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 21 miles [33.8 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is just to the west (W).
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,890 miles [9,479 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,595 miles [10,613.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,472 miles [7,197 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Columbia Park) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Columbia Park 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 Columbia Park 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 Columbia Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9176, Longitude: -76.8883       In this case, the coordinates for Columbia Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.801 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.341 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.644 degrees.