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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Middletown Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights:
    • 39.457879, -77.559433
    • 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 Middletown Heights
  • 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 Middletown Heights is near Washington County and also Jefferson 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 Jefferson 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 Middletown Heights

Communities Also Named Middletown Heights ...

We found two communities that are also named Middletown Heights.

Within Maryland, the name Middletown Heights is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Shelby County
      • This Middletown Heights is located in Shelby County and lies 421 miles [677.5 km]<1> to the west of the Middletown Heights that is located in Frederick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Middletown Heights.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Delaware 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 Pennsylvania community of Middletown Heights [Delaware County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Middletown Heights ...

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.

  • Cross Hollow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Cross Hollow is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Hollow
  • Fountain Dale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fountain Dale is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Dale
  • Frostown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Frostown is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frostown
  • Harmony
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Harmony is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Harmony Knolls
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Harmony Knolls is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Knolls
  • Hawbottom
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hawbottom is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawbottom
  • Highfields
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Highfields is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highfields
  • Hilltop Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Hilltop Woods is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop Woods
  • Homers Delight
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Homers Delight is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homers Delight
  • Irongate
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Irongate is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irongate
  • Meadow Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Meadow Ridge is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Ridge
  • Round Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Round Hill is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Hill
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Spoolsville
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Spoolsville is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spoolsville
    • Station Roads
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Station Roads is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Station Roads
    • Turkey Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Turkey Hill is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Hill
    • Valley Overlook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Valley Overlook is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Overlook
    • Vista Farms
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Vista Farms is located in Frederick County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vista Farms

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

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

  • Frederick, which is the Seat of Frederick County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 66 miles [106.2 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could walk a straight line from Middletown Heights to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 47 miles [75.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,896 miles [9,488.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,604 miles [10,628.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,480 miles [7,209.9 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- Middletown Heights) 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 Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights 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 Middletown Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4579, Longitude: -77.5594       In this case, the coordinates for Middletown Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.164 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.837 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.72 degrees.