RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Prince George's County >> Piscataway >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Piscataway, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Piscataway 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 Piscataway:
    • 38.696435, -76.975222
    • 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 Piscataway
  • 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 Prince George's County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Since Piscataway is near Charles County and also Fairfax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax 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 Piscataway

Communities Also Named Piscataway ...

We found two communities that are also named Piscataway.

Within Maryland, the name Piscataway is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Jersey
      • Middlesex County
      • This Piscataway is located in Middlesex County and lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Piscataway that is located in Prince George's County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Middlesex County community of Piscataway.
    • Virginia
      • Essex 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 Virginia community of Piscataway [Essex County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Piscataway ...

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.

  • Berry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Berry is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berry
  • Bolton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Bolton is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
  • Cactus Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cactus Hill is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Hill
  • Cedar Lawn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Lawn is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lawn
  • Chapel Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Constitution Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Constitution Hills is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Constitution Hills
  • Danville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Danville is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
  • Fox Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fox Run is located in Charles County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Run
  • Friendly
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Friendly is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly
  • Friendly Farms
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Friendly Farms is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Farms
  • Friendly Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Friendly Hills is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Hills
  • Green Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Acres is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Harmony Hall
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Harmony Hall is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Hall
    • Holly Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Holly Hill is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Hill
    • Pleasant Springs
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Pleasant Springs is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Springs
    • Riverview
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Riverview is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Sharperville
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Sharperville is located in Prince George's County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharperville
    • Springhaven
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Springhaven is located in Charles County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhaven
    • Thrift
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Piscataway once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Piscataway and extending to:

  • Upper Marlboro, which is the Seat of Prince George's County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Piscataway to Upper Marlboro, with an average speed<4> 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 four to five hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 32 miles [51.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 14 miles [22.5 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take most of a day.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,903 miles [9,500 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,607 miles [10,632.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,485 miles [7,217.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Piscataway) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Piscataway 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Piscataway, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Piscataway 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 Piscataway. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6964, Longitude: -76.9752       In this case, the coordinates for Piscataway have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.866 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.381 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.766 degrees.