RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maryland >> Calvert County >> Spruce Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spruce Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spruce Hill 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 Spruce Hill:
    • 38.360124, -76.465785
    • 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 Spruce Hill
  • 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 Calvert County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calvert County
    • Since Spruce Hill is near Saint Mary's County and also Dorchester County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Mary's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dorchester 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 Spruce Hill

Communities Also Named Spruce Hill ...

We found five communities that are also named Spruce Hill.

Within Maryland, the name Spruce Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Douglas 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 Minnesota community of Spruce Hill [Douglas County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Juniata County
      • This Spruce Hill is located in Juniata County and lies 155 miles [249.4 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Spruce Hill that is located in Calvert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Juniata County community of Spruce Hill.
      • Monroe County
      • This Spruce Hill is located in Monroe County and lies 206 miles [331.5 km] to the north northeast of the Spruce Hill that is located in Calvert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Spruce Hill.
      • Philadelphia County
      • This Spruce Hill is located in Philadelphia County and lies 128 miles [206 km] to the north northeast of the Spruce Hill that is located in Calvert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Philadelphia County community of Spruce Hill.
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke County
      • This Spruce Hill is located in Roanoke County and lies 206 miles [331.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Spruce Hill that is located in Calvert County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Spruce Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spruce Hill ...

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.

  • Appeal
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Appeal is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Appeal
  • Carol Court
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Carol Court is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carol Court
  • Cherry Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • Cove View
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cove View is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove View
  • Dowell
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Green Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Green Hills is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hills
  • Harbor Light Beach
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Harbor Light Beach is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Light Beach
  • Hoopers Neck
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hoopers Neck is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoopers Neck
  • Johnstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Johnstown is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Scotch Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Scotch Point is located in Saint Mary's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotch Point
  • Spring Cove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Spring Cove is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Cove
  • Summerville ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Summerville is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
  • Town Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Town Creek is located in Saint Mary's County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town Creek
  • Trueman Pointe
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Trueman Pointe is located in Calvert County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trueman Pointe

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

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

  • Prince Frederick, which is the Seat of Calvert County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spruce Hill to Prince 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 42 miles [67.6 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 48 miles [77.2 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,896 miles [9,488.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,597 miles [10,616.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,475 miles [7,201.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Spruce Hill 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Spruce Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Spruce Hill 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 Spruce Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3601, Longitude: -76.4658       In this case, the coordinates for Spruce Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.589 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.014 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.684 degrees.