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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Federal Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Federal 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 Federal Hill:
    • 39.640938, -76.471353
    • 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 Federal 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 Harford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford County
    • Since Federal Hill is near Montgomery County and also Baltimore 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 Baltimore 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 Federal Hill

Communities Also Named Federal Hill ...

We found four communities that are also named Federal Hill.

Within Maryland, the name Federal Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Clay 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 Florida community of Federal Hill [Clay County].
    • Indiana
      • Hamilton County
      • This Federal Hill is located in Hamilton County and lies 506 miles [814.3 km]<2> to the west of the Federal Hill that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Federal Hill.
    • Rhode Island
      • Providence County
      • This Federal Hill is located in Providence County and lies 304 miles [489.2 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Federal Hill that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Providence County community of Federal Hill.
    • Virginia
      • Lynchburg City
      • This Federal Hill is located in Lynchburg City and lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the Federal Hill that is located in Harford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lynchburg City community of Federal Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Federal 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.

  • Chrome Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Chrome Hill is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chrome Hill
  • Clover Field
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Clover Field is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Field
  • Coventry Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Coventry Meadows is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry Meadows
  • Deer Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Deer Meadows is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Meadows
  • Eden Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Eden Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Hills
  • Hunt Crest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hunt Crest is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Crest
  • Madonna Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Madonna Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madonna Hills
  • Midsummer Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Midsummer Hill is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Midsummer Hill
  • Quail Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Quail Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hills
  • Rolling Knolls
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Rolling Knolls is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Knolls
  • Spooners Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Spooners Creek is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spooners Creek
  • Spring Meadows
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Spring Meadows is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Meadows

How Far From Federal Hill to ...

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

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

  • Bel Air, which is the Seat of Harford County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Federal Hill to Bel Air, 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 45 miles [72.4 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 5,842 miles [9,401.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,549 miles [10,539.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,425 miles [7,121.3 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 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 Federal 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Federal Hill) 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 Federal 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 Federal Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6409, Longitude: -76.4714       In this case, the coordinates for Federal Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.504 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.116 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.182 degrees.