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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sellman, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sellman 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 Sellman:
    • 39.208438, -77.378319
    • 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 Sellman
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Sellman is near Frederick County and also Loudoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun 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 Sellman

Communities Also Named Sellman ...

We found one communities that are also named Sellman.

Within Maryland, the name Sellman is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Texas
      • San Saba 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 Texas community of Sellman [San Saba County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sellman ...

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.

  • Big Woods Acres
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Big Woods Acres is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Woods Acres
  • Dawsonville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Dawsonville is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawsonville
  • Elizabeths Delight
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elizabeths Delight is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeths Delight
  • Furnace Ford
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Furnace Ford is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Ford
  • Greenfield Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenfield Mills is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield Mills
  • Jerusalem
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jerusalem is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerusalem
  • Jonesville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jonesville is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonesville
  • Kingsview Knolls
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingsview Knolls is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsview Knolls
  • Lees Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lees Corner is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Corner
  • Miles Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Miles Corner is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miles Corner
  • Natural Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Natural Woods is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Natural Woods
  • Stronghold
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Stronghold is located in Frederick County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stronghold

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

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

  • Rockville, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Sellman to Rockville, with an average speed<3> 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 50 miles [80.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,899 miles [9,493.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,606 miles [10,631.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,482 miles [7,213.1 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 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 Sellman 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sellman) 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 Sellman 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 Sellman. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2084, Longitude: -77.3783       In this case, the coordinates for Sellman have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.072 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.694 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.739 degrees.