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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sylvan Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sylvan 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 Sylvan Hill:
    • 39.290106, -76.793863
    • 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 Sylvan 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 Howard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Howard County
    • Since Sylvan Hill is near Baltimore County and also Baltimore City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baltimore City
  • 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 Sylvan Hill

Communities Also Named Sylvan Hill ...

We found one communities that are also named Sylvan Hill.

Within Maryland, the name Sylvan Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook 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 Illinois community of Sylvan Hill [Cook County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sylvan 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.

  • Chapelview
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Chapelview is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapelview
  • Chestnut Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Chestnut Farms is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Farms
  • Chestnut Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Daniels ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Daniels is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daniels
    • Former names for Daniels:
    • Alberton
    • Elsyville
  • Fair Brook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fair Brook is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Brook
  • Frederick Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Frederick Village is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederick Village
  • Gray
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Gray is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray
  • Gray Rock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Gray Rock is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Rock
  • Grays Level
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Grays Level is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Level
  • Harristown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Harristown is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harristown
  • Heraldry Square
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Heraldry Square is located in Baltimore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heraldry Square
  • Hilltop
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hilltop is located in Howard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Howard Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Howard Heights is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Heights
    • Ivy Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Ivy Hill is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Hill
    • Rockland
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Rockland is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
    • Rolling Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Rolling Heights is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Heights
    • Rolling Ridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Rolling Ridge is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Ridge
    • Sky View
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Sky View is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky View
    • Thistle
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Thistle is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thistle
    • Thornbrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Thornbrook is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornbrook
    • Timber Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Timber Point is located in Baltimore County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Point
    • Toll House
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Toll House is located in Howard County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toll House

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

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

  • Ellicott City, which is the Seat of Howard County, lies just to the South.
  • Annapolis, which is the State Capital of Maryland, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Sylvan Hill to Annapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 30 miles [48.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,871 miles [9,448.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,577 miles [10,584.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,453 miles [7,166.4 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 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 Sylvan 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 '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- Sylvan Hill) 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 Sylvan 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 Sylvan Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2901, Longitude: -76.7939       In this case, the coordinates for Sylvan Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.72 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.307 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.459 degrees.