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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Paramount, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Paramount 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 Paramount:
    • 39.683151, -77.696104
    • 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 Paramount
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Paramount is near Franklin County and also Frederick County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick 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 Paramount

Communities Also Named Paramount ...

We found three communities that are also named Paramount.

Within Maryland, the name Paramount is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Shelby County
      • This Paramount is located in Shelby County and lies 670 miles [1,078.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Paramount that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Paramount.
    • California
      • Los Angeles County
      • This Paramount is located in Los Angeles County and lies 2,253 miles [3,625.9 km]<1> to the west of the Paramount that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Los Angeles County community of Paramount.
    • Kentucky
      • Bell 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 Paramount [Bell County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Paramount ...

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.

  • Clearview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clearview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Countryside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Countryside is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Countryside
  • Fiddlesburg
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fiddlesburg is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fiddlesburg
  • Fountain Head
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fountain Head is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Head
  • Gardenspot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Gardenspot is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardenspot
  • Hunter Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hunter Hill is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Hill
  • Long Meadow
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Long Meadow is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Meadow
  • Orchard Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Orchard Hills is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Hills
  • Security
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Security is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Security
  • Spring Valley
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Spring Valley is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Sycamore Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Sycamore Heights is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Heights
  • Terrace Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Terrace Hills is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrace Hills
  • Wood Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Wood Point is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Point

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

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

  • Hagerstown, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Paramount to Annapolis, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 64 miles [103 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full 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 5,892 miles [9,482.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,602 miles [10,624.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,478 miles [7,206.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Paramount) 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 Paramount 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 Paramount 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 Paramount. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6832, Longitude: -77.6961       In this case, the coordinates for Paramount have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.231 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.948 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.692 degrees.