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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Middlepoint, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Middlepoint 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 Middlepoint:
    • 39.563155, -77.524988
    • 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 Middlepoint
  • 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 Frederick County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Since Middlepoint is near Washington County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Middlepoint

Communities Also Named Middlepoint ...

We found three communities that are also named Middlepoint.

Within Maryland, the name Middlepoint is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • White County
      • This Middlepoint is located in White County and lies 590 miles [949.5 km]<1> to the west of the Middlepoint that is located in Frederick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the White County community of Middlepoint.
    • Kentucky
      • Knox 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 Kentucky community of Middlepoint [Knox County].
    • Ohio
      • Van Wert 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 Ohio community of Middlepoint [Van Wert County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Middlepoint ...

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.

  • Bagtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Bagtown is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagtown
  • Blank
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Blank is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blank
  • Fishers Hollow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fishers Hollow is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishers Hollow
  • Five Forks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Five Forks is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Harmony
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Harmony is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Harmony Knolls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Harmony Knolls is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Knolls
  • Harp
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Harp is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harp
  • Highfields
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Highfields is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highfields
  • Highland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Highland is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Jerusalem
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jerusalem is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem
  • Leisure Mountain
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Leisure Mountain is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Mountain
  • Lost Eden
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lost Eden is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Eden
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Meadow Ridge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Meadow Ridge is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Ridge
    • Meeting House Overlook
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pleasant Walk
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Pleasant Walk is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Walk
    • Shady Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Shady Grove is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Turkey Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Turkey Hill is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Hill
    • Vista Farms
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Vista Farms is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vista Farms
    • Wolfsville
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Wolfsville is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolfsville
    • Wolfsville Crossing
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Wolfsville Crossing is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolfsville Crossing
    • Woodland Way
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Woodland Way is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Way

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

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

  • Frederick, which is the Seat of Frederick County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Middlepoint to Frederick, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 68 miles [109.4 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 52 miles [83.7 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,890 miles [9,479 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,599 miles [10,620.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,475 miles [7,201.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Middlepoint) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Middlepoint 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 Middlepoint 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 Middlepoint. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5632, Longitude: -77.5250       In this case, the coordinates for Middlepoint have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.137 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.822 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.665 degrees.