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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Merrill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merrill 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 Merrill:
    • 39.598977, -79.083085
    • 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 Merrill
  • 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 Garrett County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garrett County
    • Since Merrill is near Allegany County and also Mineral County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegany County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mineral 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 Merrill

Communities Also Named Merrill ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Merrill.

Within Maryland, the name Merrill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Bernardino 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 California community of Merrill [San Bernardino County].
    • Iowa
      • Plymouth County
      • This Merrill is located in Plymouth County and lies 916 miles [1,474.2 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Plymouth County community of Merrill.
    • Maine
      • Aroostook County
      • This Merrill is located in Aroostook County and lies 710 miles [1,142.6 km]<2> to the northeast of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aroostook County community of Merrill.
    • Michigan
      • Saginaw County
      • This Merrill is located in Saginaw County and lies 377 miles [606.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saginaw County community of Merrill.
    • Mississippi
      • George County
      • This Merrill is located in George County and lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km]<2> to the southwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the George County community of Merrill.
    • Montana
      • Yellowstone 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 Montana community of Merrill [Yellowstone County].
    • New Hampshire
      • Strafford 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 New Hampshire community of Merrill [Strafford County].
    • New York
      • Clinton County
      • This Merrill is located in Clinton County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Merrill.
    • Oregon
      • Klamath County
      • This Merrill is located in Klamath County and lies 2,205 miles [3,548.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Klamath County community of Merrill.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Beaver County
      • This Merrill is located in Beaver County and lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaver County community of Merrill.
    • Texas
      • Hidalgo County
      • This Merrill is located in Hidalgo County and lies 1,428 miles [2,298.1 km]<2> to the southwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Merrill.
    • Wisconsin
      • Lincoln County
      • This Merrill is located in Lincoln County and lies 663 miles [1,067 km]<2> to the northwest of the Merrill that is located in Garrett County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Merrill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Merrill ...

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.

  • Borden Shaft
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Borden Shaft is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Borden Shaft
  • Floyd
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Floyd is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd
  • Foxtown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Foxtown is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxtown
  • Franklin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Franklin is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Grantsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • High Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • High Point is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Jennings
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jennings is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jennings
  • Luke
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Luke is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luke
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 60 people
  • Moscow
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Moscow is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
  • National
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • National is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for National
  • New Germany
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • New Germany is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Germany
  • Ocean
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Ocean is located in Allegany County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean
  • Piney Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Piney Grove is located in Garrett County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Grove

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

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

  • Oakland, which is the Seat of Garrett County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Merrill to Oakland, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 144 miles [231.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 119 miles [191.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,953 miles [9,580.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,666 miles [10,727.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,541 miles [7,308 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Merrill 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Merrill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Merrill 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 Merrill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5990, Longitude: -79.0831       In this case, the coordinates for Merrill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.072 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.89 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.327 degrees.