RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Wicomico County >> Gum Swamp >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gum Swamp, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gum Swamp 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 Gum Swamp:
    • 38.359009, -75.829099
    • 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 Gum Swamp
  • 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 Wicomico County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wicomico County
    • Since Gum Swamp is near Dorchester County and also Somerset County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dorchester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset 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 Gum Swamp

Communities Also Named Gum Swamp ...

We found two communities that are also named Gum Swamp.

There is one other community in Maryland that is also named Gum Swamp.

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

  • Communities Located In Maryland ...
    • Dorchester County
      • This Gum Swamp is located in Dorchester County and lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Gum Swamp that is located in Wicomico County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dorchester County community of Gum Swamp.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • South Carolina
      • Marion 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 South Carolina community of Gum Swamp [Marion County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gum Swamp ...

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.

  • Catchpenny
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Catchpenny is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catchpenny
  • Clara
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Clara is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara
  • Cokeland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cokeland is located in Dorchester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokeland
  • Deep Branch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Deep Branch is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Branch
  • Green Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Hill is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Green Hill Village
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Hill Village is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill Village
  • Henrys Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Henrys Crossroads is located in Dorchester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrys Crossroads
  • Jenkins Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Jenkins Landing is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Landing
  • Lewis Landing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lewis Landing is located in Dorchester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis Landing
  • Martins Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Martins Corner is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martins Corner
  • Pea Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pea Hill is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pea Hill
  • Royal Oak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Royal Oak is located in Wicomico County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Oak

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

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

  • Salisbury, which is the Seat of Wicomico County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Gum Swamp to Salisbury, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 55 miles [88.5 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 over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 75 miles [120.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,868 miles [9,443.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,568 miles [10,570.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,447 miles [7,156.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Gum Swamp) 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 Gum Swamp 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 Gum Swamp 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 Gum Swamp. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3590, Longitude: -75.8291       In this case, the coordinates for Gum Swamp have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.22 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.594 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.424 degrees.