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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Drybranch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Drybranch 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 Drybranch:
    • 39.663716, -76.543300
    • 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 Drybranch
  • 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 Harford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford County
    • Since Drybranch is near Baltimore County and also York 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 York 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 Drybranch

Communities Also Named Drybranch ...

We found one communities that are also named Drybranch.

Within Maryland, the name Drybranch is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of Drybranch [Kanawha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Drybranch ...

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.

  • Blackhorse
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Blackhorse is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackhorse
  • Coldstream
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Coldstream is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldstream
  • Coventry Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Coventry Meadows is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry Meadows
  • Deer Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Deer Meadows is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Meadows
  • Holiday Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Indian Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Indian Meadows
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Indian Meadows is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Meadows
  • Ivory Mill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Ivory Mill is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivory Mill
  • Madonna
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Madonna is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madonna
  • Madonna Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Madonna Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madonna Hills
  • Meadow Stream
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Meadow Stream is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Stream
  • Nestling Wind
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Nestling Wind is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nestling Wind
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Quail Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Quail Hills is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hills
    • Rolling Knolls
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Rolling Knolls is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Knolls
    • Walnut Springs
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Walnut Springs is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Springs
    • Wilsons Choice
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Wilsons Choice is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilsons Choice

How Far From Drybranch to ...

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

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

  • Bel Air, which is the Seat of Harford County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Drybranch to Bel Air, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 47 miles [75.6 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 59 miles [95 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,844 miles [9,405 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,551 miles [10,542.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,428 miles [7,126.2 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Drybranch 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 from Point A (ie- Drybranch) 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 Drybranch 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 Drybranch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6637, Longitude: -76.5433       In this case, the coordinates for Drybranch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.545 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.166 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.203 degrees.