RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Fort Bend County >> Ridgemont >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ridgemont, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ridgemont 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 Ridgemont:
    • 29.589900, -95.460000
    • 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 Ridgemont
  • 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 Fort Bend County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fort Bend County
    • Since Ridgemont is near Harris County and also Brazoria County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harris County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brazoria 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 Ridgemont

Communities Also Named Ridgemont ...

We found five communities that are also named Ridgemont.

Within Texas, the name Ridgemont is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Baltimore County and lies 1,262 miles [2,031 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Fort Bend County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Ridgemont.
      • Carroll County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Carroll County and lies 1,253 miles [2,016.5 km] to the northeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Fort Bend County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Ridgemont.
    • New York
      • Monroe 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 New York community of Ridgemont [Monroe County].
    • Ontario
      • This Ridgemont lies 1,529 miles [2,460.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Fort Bend County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Centre County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Centre County and lies 1,252 miles [2,014.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Fort Bend County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Centre County community of Ridgemont.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ridgemont ...

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.

  • Fifth Street
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Fifth Street is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fifth Street
  • Glen Iris
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen Iris is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Iris
  • Hobby
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hobby is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobby
  • Hunters Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hunters Glen is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Glen
  • Kingsway
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Kingsway is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsway
  • Main Street Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Main Street Gardens is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Main Street Gardens
  • Post Oak Village
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Post Oak Village is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Oak Village
  • Quail Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Quail Glen is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Glen
  • Quail Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Quail Valley is located in Fort Bend County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Valley
  • Tiffany Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Tiffany Gardens is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiffany Gardens
  • Willow Bend
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Willow Bend is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Bend
  • Willow Brook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Willow Brook is located in Harris County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Brook

How Far From Ridgemont to ...

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the Seat of Fort Bend County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Ridgemont to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 144 miles [231.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,228 miles [1,976.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 70 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,100 miles [11,426.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,820 miles [12,585.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,695 miles [9,165.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Ridgemont) 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 Ridgemont 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>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 Ridgemont 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 Ridgemont. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.5899, Longitude: -95.4600       In this case, the coordinates for Ridgemont have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.622 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.529 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.411 degrees.