RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Frederick County >> Fountain Mills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fountain Mills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fountain Mills 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 Fountain Mills:
    • 39.341493, -77.268039
    • 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 Fountain Mills
  • 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 Frederick County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Since Fountain Mills is near Montgomery County and also Carroll 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 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 Fountain Mills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fountain Mills ...

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.

  • Englandtowne
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Englandtowne is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Englandtowne
  • Friendship
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Friendship is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Gently Savage
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Gently Savage is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gently Savage
  • Green Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Green Hills is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hills
  • Green Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Valley is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Highview
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Highview is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
  • Land of Promise
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Land of Promise is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Land of Promise
  • Meadowbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Pleasant Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Quail Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Quail Run is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
    • Stonelake
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Stonelake is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonelake
    • Sugarloaf Overlook
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Sugarloaf Overlook is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarloaf Overlook
    • Sunnybrook Farms
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Sunnybrook Farms is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnybrook Farms
    • Tranquility
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Tranquility is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tranquility
    • Wolf Den Spring
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Wolf Den Spring is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Den Spring

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Fountain Mills and extending to:

  • Frederick, which is the Seat of Frederick County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Fountain Mills to Frederick, with an average speed<2> 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 48 miles [77.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 33 miles [53.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,888 miles [9,475.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,596 miles [10,615.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,472 miles [7,197 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Fountain Mills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Fountain Mills 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 Fountain Mills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3415, Longitude: -77.2680       In this case, the coordinates for Fountain Mills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.998 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.63 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.64 degrees.