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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Octoraro, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Octoraro 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 Octoraro:
    • 39.658719, -76.154675
    • 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 Octoraro
  • 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 Cecil County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Since Octoraro is near Harford County and also Lancaster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster 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 Octoraro

Communities Also Named Octoraro ...

We found one communities that are also named Octoraro.

Within Maryland, the name Octoraro is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster 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 Pennsylvania community of Octoraro [Lancaster County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Octoraro ...

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.

  • Five Points ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Frank
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Frank is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frank
  • Glen Cove ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Glen Cove is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Cove
  • Honeysuckle Hollow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Honeysuckle Hollow is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeysuckle Hollow
  • Jacks Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jacks Corner is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Corner
  • Liberty Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Liberty Grove is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Grove
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Mount Pleasant View
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Mount Pleasant View is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant View
  • Pilot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pilot is located in Cecil County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Pleasant View
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant View is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
    • Richards Oak
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Richards Oak is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richards Oak
    • Rock
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Rock is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock
    • Rock Run
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Rock Run is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Run
    • Rock Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Rock Springs is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
    • Vinegar Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Vinegar Hill is located in Cecil County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vinegar Hill

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

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

  • Elkton, which is the Seat of Cecil County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Octoraro to Elkton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 70 miles [112.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,828 miles [9,379.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,534 miles [10,515.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,411 miles [7,098.8 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 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 Octoraro 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Octoraro) 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 Octoraro 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 Octoraro. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6587, Longitude: -76.1547       In this case, the coordinates for Octoraro have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.314 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.904 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.039 degrees.