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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elkridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elkridge 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 Elkridge:
    • 39.212607, -76.713581
    • 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 Elkridge
  • 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 Elkridge is near Baltimore County and also Anne Arundel 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 Anne Arundel 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 Elkridge

Communities Also Named Elkridge ...

We found two communities that are also named Elkridge.

Within Maryland, the name Elkridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette County
      • This Elkridge is located in Fayette County and lies 261 miles [420 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Elkridge that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Elkridge.
      • McDowell 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 West Virginia community of Elkridge [McDowell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elkridge ...

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
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Asylum is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asylum
  • Elkridge Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Elkridge Heights is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkridge Heights
  • Grove Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Grove Ridge is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Ridge
  • Homeland Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Homeland Park is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homeland Park
  • Lawyers Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Lawyers Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawyers Hill
  • Marble Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Marble Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble Hill
  • Monumental
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Monumental is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monumental
  • Orange Grove ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Orange Grove is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Grove
  • Paradise
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Paradise is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise
  • Pleasant View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant View is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Quail Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Quail Ridge is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
  • Relay
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Relay is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relay
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Ridgeview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Ridgeview is located in Anne Arundel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
    • Rockburn Commons
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Rockburn Commons is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockburn Commons
    • Sandalwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sandalwood is located in Anne Arundel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandalwood
    • Stony Run
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Stony Run is located in Anne Arundel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Run
    • Timberview
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Timberview is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberview
    • Twin Oaks
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Twin Oaks is located in Anne Arundel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Oaks
    • Woodland Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Woodland Village is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village
    • Woodlawn Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Woodlawn Heights is located in Anne Arundel County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn Heights

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

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

  • Ellicott City, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Elkridge to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 5,870 miles [9,446.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,576 miles [10,583 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,453 miles [7,166.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Elkridge) 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 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 Elkridge 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 Elkridge 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 Elkridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2126, Longitude: -76.7136       In this case, the coordinates for Elkridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.678 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.247 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.455 degrees.