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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hillwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hillwood 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 Hillwood:
    • 38.577897, -76.989974
    • 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 Hillwood
  • 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 Charles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles County
    • Since Hillwood is near Prince George's County and also Fairfax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax 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 Hillwood

Communities Also Named Hillwood ...

We found nine communities that are also named Hillwood.

Within Maryland, the name Hillwood is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Coosa County
      • This Hillwood is located in Coosa County and lies 653 miles [1,050.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coosa County community of Hillwood.
      • Madison County
      • This Hillwood is located in Madison County and lies 595 miles [957.6 km] to the west southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Hillwood.
      • Montgomery County
      • This Hillwood is located in Montgomery County and lies 674 miles [1,084.7 km] to the southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Hillwood.
    • South Carolina
      • Pickens County
      • This Hillwood is located in Pickens County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickens County community of Hillwood.
    • Tennessee
      • Davidson 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 Tennessee community of Hillwood [Davidson County].
      • Montgomery County
      • This Hillwood is located in Montgomery County and lies 585 miles [941.5 km]<1> to the west of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Hillwood.
      • Putnam County
      • This Hillwood is located in Putnam County and lies 496 miles [798.2 km] to the west southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of Hillwood.
      • Sumner County
      • This Hillwood is located in Sumner County and lies 550 miles [885.1 km] to the west southwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sumner County community of Hillwood.
    • Virginia
      • Arlington County
      • This Hillwood is located in Arlington County and lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Hillwood that is located in Charles County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Arlington County community of Hillwood.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hillwood ...

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.

  • Beantown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Beantown is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beantown
  • Camelot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Camelot is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Countryside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Countryside is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
  • Deerwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Deerwood is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Forest Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Forest Grove is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Grove
  • Freedom Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Freedom Village is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom Village
  • Hickory Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hickory Ridge is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Ridge
  • Hunters Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Hunters Ridge is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Ridge
  • Kent Square
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Kent Square is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Square
  • Kings Grant
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Kings Grant is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
  • Lyons Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Lyons Corner is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons Corner
  • Marshalls Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Marshalls Corner is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshalls Corner
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Pheasant Farm
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Pheasant Farm is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Farm
    • Pomfret
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Quailwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Quailwood is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quailwood
    • Rosewick
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Rosewick is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewick
    • Spring Valley
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Spring Valley is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Turkey Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Turkey Hill is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Hill
    • Willow Gate
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Willow Gate is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Gate

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

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

  • La Plata, which is the Seat of Charles County, lies just to the South.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Hillwood to Annapolis, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 22 miles [35.4 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,909 miles [9,509.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,612 miles [10,641 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,490 miles [7,226 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hillwood) 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 Hillwood 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Hillwood 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 Hillwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5779, Longitude: -76.9900       In this case, the coordinates for Hillwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.882 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.381 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.817 degrees.