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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lawson, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lawson and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Lawson:
    • 37.974013, -75.839376
    • 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 Lawson
  • 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 Somerset County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Since Lawson is near Accomack County and also Worcester County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Accomack County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Worcester 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 Lawson

Communities Also Named Lawson ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Lawson.

Within Maryland, the name Lawson is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Limestone County
      • This Lawson is located in Limestone County and lies 663 miles [1,067 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Limestone County community of Lawson.
    • Arkansas
      • Union County
      • This Lawson is located in Union County and lies 989 miles [1,591.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Lawson.
    • Colorado
      • Clear Creek County
      • This Lawson is located in Clear Creek County and lies 1,598 miles [2,571.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clear Creek County community of Lawson.
    • Georgia
      • Colquitt 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 Georgia community of Lawson [Colquitt County].
    • Kansas
      • Grant 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 Kansas community of Lawson [Grant County].
    • Kentucky
      • Breathitt County
      • This Lawson is located in Breathitt County and lies 416 miles [669.5 km]<1> to the west of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Breathitt County community of Lawson.
    • Michigan
      • Marquette County
      • This Lawson is located in Marquette County and lies 815 miles [1,311.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marquette County community of Lawson.
    • Missouri
      • Ray County
      • This Lawson is located in Ray County and lies 993 miles [1,598.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ray County community of Lawson.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Lawson lies 1,742 miles [2,803.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
    • South Carolina
      • Spartanburg County
      • This Lawson is located in Spartanburg County and lies 395 miles [635.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spartanburg County community of Lawson.
    • Tennessee
      • Sullivan County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Lawson [Sullivan County].
    • Texas
      • Dallas County
      • This Lawson is located in Dallas County and lies 1,219 miles [1,961.8 km]<1> to the west of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Lawson.
    • Virginia
      • Isle of Wight County
      • This Lawson is located in Isle of Wight County and lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Lawson that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Isle of Wight County community of Lawson.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh 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 West Virginia community of Lawson [Raleigh County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lawson ...

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.

  • Byrdtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Byrdtown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Byrdtown
  • Cash Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Cash Corner is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cash Corner
  • Hearts Ease
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hearts Ease is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hearts Ease
  • Hopewell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopewell is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Howard ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Howard is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
  • Indian Hammock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Hammock is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hammock
  • Mariners
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Mariners is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariners
  • Nelson
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Nelson is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nelson
  • Parsonville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Parsonville is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsonville
  • Sackertown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Sackertown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sackertown

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

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

  • Princess Anne, which is the Seat of Somerset County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Lawson to Princess Anne, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 90 miles [144.8 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,885 miles [9,471 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,583 miles [10,594.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,462 miles [7,180.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lawson) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Lawson 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Lawson, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Lawson 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 Lawson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9740, Longitude: -75.8394       In this case, the coordinates for Lawson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.252 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.571 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.579 degrees.