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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Goodwins, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Goodwins 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 Goodwins:
    • 38.495123, -76.600513
    • 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 Goodwins
  • 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 Calvert County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calvert County
    • Since Goodwins is near Charles County and also Saint Mary's County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Mary's 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 Goodwins

Communities Also Named Goodwins ...

We found two communities that are also named Goodwins.

Within Maryland, the name Goodwins is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sonoma 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 California community of Goodwins [Sonoma County].
    • Georgia
      • DeKalb 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 Georgia community of Goodwins [DeKalb County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Goodwins ...

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.

  • Battle ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Battle is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battle
  • Cedar Beach
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Beach is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Beach
  • Chapel Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Cypress Knolls
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cypress Knolls is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Knolls
  • Emerald Cove
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Emerald Cove is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Cove
  • Follywoods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Follywoods is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Follywoods
  • Forest Glade
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Forest Glade is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Glade
  • Fox Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fox Hill is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hill
  • Harbor Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Harbor Hills is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Hills
  • Island Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Island Creek is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island Creek
  • Mutual
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mutual is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mutual
  • Mutual Consent
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mutual Consent is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mutual Consent
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Prince Frederick
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rosewood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rosewood is located in Calvert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
    • Valley Lee
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Valley Lee is located in Calvert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Lee
    • Williams Wharf
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Williams Wharf is located in Calvert County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Wharf

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Goodwins and extending to:

  • Prince Frederick, which is the Seat of Calvert County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<3> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Goodwins to Annapolis, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 36 miles [57.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,896 miles [9,488.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,598 miles [10,618.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,476 miles [7,203.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Goodwins 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Goodwins) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Goodwins 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 Goodwins. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4951, Longitude: -76.6005       In this case, the coordinates for Goodwins have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.659 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.115 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.688 degrees.