RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Anne Arundel County >> The Sands >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in The Sands, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Sands 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 The Sands:
    • 38.870113, -76.673021
    • 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 The Sands
  • 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 Anne Arundel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anne Arundel County
    • Since The Sands is near Prince George's County and also Calvert County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calvert 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 The Sands

Communities Also Named The Sands ...

We found ten communities that are also named The Sands.

Within Maryland, the name The Sands is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This The Sands is located in San Bernardino County and lies 2,166 miles [3,485.8 km]<1> to the west of the The Sands that is located in Anne Arundel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of The Sands.
    • Colorado
      • Garfield 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 Colorado community of The Sands [Garfield County].
    • Idaho
      • Owyhee County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Idaho community of The Sands [Owyhee County].
    • Illinois
      • Tazewell 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 Illinois community of The Sands [Tazewell County].
      • Whiteside County
      • This The Sands is located in Whiteside County and lies 721 miles [1,160.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the The Sands that is located in Anne Arundel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whiteside County community of The Sands.
    • Michigan
      • Kalkaska 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 Michigan community of The Sands [Kalkaska County].
      • Marquette County
      • This The Sands is located in Marquette County and lies 753 miles [1,211.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the The Sands that is located in Anne Arundel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marquette County community of The Sands.
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Saint Louis County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of The Sands.
    • New Mexico
      • San Miguel County
      • This The Sands is located in San Miguel County and lies 1,597 miles [2,570.1 km]<1> to the west of the The Sands that is located in Anne Arundel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Miguel County community of The Sands.
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga County
      • This The Sands is located in Watauga County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the The Sands that is located in Anne Arundel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Watauga County community of The Sands.

Curious and Interesting Names Near The Sands ...

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.

  • Birdsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Birdsville is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdsville
  • Fox Chapel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fox Chapel is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Chapel
  • Friends Choice
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Friends Choice is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friends Choice
  • Green Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Green Landing is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Landing
  • Hall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hall is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall
  • Heritage Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Heritage Hills is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Hills
  • Hills Landing ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hills Landing is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Landing
  • Hunt Chapel
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunt Chapel is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Chapel
  • Kings Retreat
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Kings Retreat is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Retreat
  • Merrywood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Merrywood is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrywood
  • Queen Anne Knolls
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Queen Anne Knolls is located in Prince George's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen Anne Knolls
  • Riverwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Riverwood is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
  • Royale Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Royale Glen is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royale Glen
  • Rustic Knolls
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Rustic Knolls is located in Anne Arundel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustic Knolls

How Far From The Sands to ...

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

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

  • Annapolis, which is the Seat of Anne Arundel County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from The Sands to Annapolis, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 19 miles [30.6 km] to the west (W). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,883 miles [9,467.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,587 miles [10,600.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,464 miles [7,184.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- The Sands) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 The Sands 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 The Sands, 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 The Sands 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 The Sands. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8701, Longitude: -76.6730       In this case, the coordinates for The Sands have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.677 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.193 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.572 degrees.