RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Harford County >> Orchard Lakes >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Lakes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Lakes 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 Orchard Lakes:
    • 39.534273, -76.483020
    • 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 Orchard Lakes
  • 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 Harford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford County
    • Since Orchard Lakes is near Baltimore County and also Montgomery 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 Montgomery 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 Orchard Lakes

Communities Also Named Orchard Lakes ...

We found one communities that are also named Orchard Lakes.

Within Maryland, the name Orchard Lakes is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis 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 Missouri community of Orchard Lakes [Saint Louis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Lakes ...

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.

  • Cloverdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cloverdale is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Eagle View
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Eagle View is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle View
  • Fox Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Run is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Foxwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Foxwood is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxwood
  • Franklins Chance
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Franklins Chance is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklins Chance
  • Furnace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Furnace is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace
  • Greenfield
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Greenfield is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Greenfields
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Greenfields is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfields
  • Gunpowder Farms
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Gunpowder Farms is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gunpowder Farms
  • Harvest Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Harvest Hills is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harvest Hills
  • High Point
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • High Point is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Highfield Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Highfield Park is located in Harford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highfield Park
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Hunting Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Hunting Ridge is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunting Ridge
    • Jenkins
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Jenkins is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
    • Locust Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Locust Hill is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Hill
    • Long Green Woods
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Long Green Woods is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Green Woods
    • Manor Fields
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Manor Fields is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Fields
    • Manor Glade
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Manor Glade is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Glade
    • Manor Glen
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Manor Glen is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Glen
    • Manor Oaks
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Manor Oaks is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Oaks
    • Manor Ridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Manor Ridge is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Ridge
    • Pleasantville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Pleasantville is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
    • Quiet Inheritance
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Quiet Inheritance is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quiet Inheritance
    • Sweet Air
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Sweet Air is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Air
    • Upper Crossroads
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Upper Crossroads is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Crossroads
    • White House Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • White House Park is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White House Park
    • Willows
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Willows is located in Harford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willows

How Far From Orchard Lakes to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Orchard Lakes to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Bel Air, which is the Seat of Harford County, lies just to the East.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Lakes to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 52 miles [83.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 5,847 miles [9,409.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,554 miles [10,547.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,430 miles [7,129.4 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 Orchard Lakes 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 '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- Orchard Lakes) 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 Orchard Lakes 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 Orchard Lakes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5343, Longitude: -76.4830       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Lakes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.518 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.116 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.23 degrees.