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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laytonsville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laytonsville 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 Laytonsville:
    • 39.212122, -77.142652
    • 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 Laytonsville
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Laytonsville is near Howard County and also Frederick County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick 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 Laytonsville

Communities Also Named Laytonsville ...

We found one communities that are also named Laytonsville.

Within Maryland, the name Laytonsville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Christian 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 Kentucky community of Laytonsville [Christian County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laytonsville ...

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.

  • Bootjack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Bootjack is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bootjack
  • Charlene
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Charlene is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlene
  • Claysville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Claysville is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claysville
  • Damascus Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Damascus Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Damascus Hill
  • Edinburgh
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Edinburgh is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburgh
  • Flower Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Flower Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flower Hill
  • Freedom Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Freedom Forest is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom Forest
  • Hickory Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Hickory Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Ridge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Ridge
  • Holiday Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Holiday Hills is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills
  • Nathans Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Nathans Hill is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathans Hill
  • Quail Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Quail Valley is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Valley
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Rocky Road Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Rocky Road Park is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Road Park
    • Rolling Knolls
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Rolling Knolls is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Knolls
    • Stewart Town
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Stewart Town is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stewart Town
    • Sunshine
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Sunshine is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunshine
    • Unity
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Whetstone
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Whetstone is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whetstone
    • Wildcat Forest
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Wildcat Forest is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat Forest
    • Wilderness Walk
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Wilderness Walk is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wilderness Walk

How Far From Laytonsville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Laytonsville to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Laytonsville and extending to:

  • Rockville, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the South.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Laytonsville to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> 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 south southeast (SSE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,889 miles [9,477.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,595 miles [10,613.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,472 miles [7,197 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Laytonsville 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Laytonsville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Laytonsville 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 Laytonsville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2121, Longitude: -77.1427    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.932 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.535 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.637 degrees.