RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Howard County >> Long Reach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Long Reach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Long Reach 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 Long Reach:
    • 39.214273, -76.815529
    • 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 Long Reach
  • 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Long Reach is near Baltimore County and also Anne Arundel County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anne Arundel 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 Long Reach

Communities Also Named Long Reach ...

We found three communities that are also named Long Reach.

Within Maryland, the name Long Reach is unique.

Beyond Maryland, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Brunswick
      • This Long Reach lies 693 miles [1,115.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Long Reach that is located in Howard County.
    • New Jersey
      • Cumberland 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 New Jersey community of Long Reach [Cumberland County].
    • West Virginia
      • Tyler County
      • This Long Reach is located in Tyler County and lies 229 miles [368.5 km]<1> to the west of the Long Reach that is located in Howard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tyler County community of Long Reach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Long Reach ...

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.

  • Bonnie Brae
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Bonnie Brae is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Brae
  • Dasher Green
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Dasher Green is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dasher Green
  • Elkhorn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Elkhorn is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Hopewell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hopewell is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Jonestown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jonestown is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Locust Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Locust Park is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Park
  • Phelps Luck
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Phelps Luck is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phelps Luck
  • Pleasant View
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Pleasant View is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Running Brook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Running Brook is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Running Brook
  • Thunder Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Thunder Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thunder Hill
  • Timber Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Timber Run is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Run
  • Vantage Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Vantage Point is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vantage Point
  • Wheatfield Way
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Wheatfield Way is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wheatfield Way
  • Woodland Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Woodland Village is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Village

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

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

  • Ellicott City, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Long Reach to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 24 miles [38.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,875 miles [9,454.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,580 miles [10,589.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,457 miles [7,172.8 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Long Reach) 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 Long Reach 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 Long Reach 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 Long Reach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2143, Longitude: -76.8155       In this case, the coordinates for Long Reach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.738 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.316 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.498 degrees.