RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Prince William County >> Birchdale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Birchdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Birchdale 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 Birchdale:
    • 38.639007, -77.310539
    • 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 Birchdale
  • 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 Prince William County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince William County
    • Since Birchdale is near Fairfax County and also Charles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles 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 Birchdale

Communities Also Named Birchdale ...

We found two communities that are also named Birchdale.

Within Virginia, the name Birchdale is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Birchdale lies 2,076 miles [3,341 km]<1> to the northwest of the Birchdale that is located in Prince William County.
    • Minnesota
      • Koochiching County
      • This Birchdale is located in Koochiching County and lies 1,082 miles [1,741.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Birchdale that is located in Prince William County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Koochiching County community of Birchdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Birchdale ...

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.

  • Cloverdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Cloverdale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Dale City
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Featherstone
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Featherstone is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Featherstone
  • Forestdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Forestdale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestdale
  • Hillendale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillendale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillendale
  • Kerrydale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Kerrydale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerrydale
  • Mapledale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Mapledale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mapledale
  • Orangedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Orangedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orangedale
  • Princedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Princedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Princedale
  • Ridgedale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Ridgedale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgedale
  • Rose Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Rose Hill is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Silverdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Silverdale is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverdale
  • Terrapin Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Terrapin Forest is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrapin Forest
  • Tripoli Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Tripoli Heights is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tripoli Heights

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 76 miles [122.3 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Birchdale to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 23 miles [37 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take most of 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 5,920 miles [9,527.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,625 miles [10,661.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,502 miles [7,245.3 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Birchdale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Birchdale 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 Birchdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6390, Longitude: -77.3105       In this case, the coordinates for Birchdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.066 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.60 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.928 degrees.