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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Roddy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Roddy and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Roddy:
    • 39.640653, -77.401931
    • 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 Roddy
  • 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 Roddy is near Washington County and also Franklin 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 Franklin 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 Roddy

Communities Also Named Roddy ...

We found five communities that are also named Roddy.

Within Maryland, the name Roddy is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Dodge County
      • This Roddy is located in Dodge County and lies 599 miles [964 km]<1> to the southwest of the Roddy that is located in Frederick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dodge County community of Roddy.
    • Oregon
      • Gilliam 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 Oregon community of Roddy [Gilliam County].
    • Tennessee
      • Rhea County
      • This Roddy is located in Rhea County and lies 483 miles [777.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Roddy that is located in Frederick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rhea County community of Roddy.
    • Texas
      • McLennan 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 Texas community of Roddy [McLennan County].
      • Van Zandt County
      • This Roddy is located in Van Zandt County and lies 1,150 miles [1,850.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Roddy that is located in Frederick County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Zandt County community of Roddy.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Roddy ...

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.

  • Altogether
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Altogether is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altogether
  • Distant View
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Distant View is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Distant View
  • Flint
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Flint is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint
  • Free Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Free Farms is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Free Farms
  • Graceham
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Graceham is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graceham
  • Jimtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jimtown is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jimtown
  • Jones
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jones is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones
  • Poplar Knob
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Poplar Knob is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Knob
  • Ridgeview
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Ridgeview is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
  • Thornbrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Thornbrook is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornbrook
  • Whispering Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

How Far From Roddy 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 Roddy 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 Roddy once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Roddy and extending to:

  • Frederick, which is the Seat of Frederick County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Roddy to Frederick, 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 66 miles [106.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 54 miles [86.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,881 miles [9,464.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,590 miles [10,605.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,466 miles [7,187.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Roddy) 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 Roddy 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 Roddy, 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 Roddy 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 Roddy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6407, Longitude: -77.4019       In this case, the coordinates for Roddy have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.058 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.745 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.582 degrees.