RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Fairfax County >> Brockmont >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Brockmont, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brockmont 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 Brockmont:
    • 38.876501, -77.182203
    • 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 Brockmont
  • 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 Fairfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax County
    • Since Brockmont is near Falls Church City and also Arlington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Falls Church City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arlington 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 Brockmont

Curious and Interesting Names Near Brockmont ...

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.

  • Crescent Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Crescent Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Hills
  • Dominion Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Dominion Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion Hills
  • Enola
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Enola is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enola
  • Falls Church
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Falls Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Falls Hill is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Hill
  • Foxhall
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Foxhall is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhall
  • Greenway Downs
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Greenway Downs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenway Downs
  • Kent Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Kent Gardens is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Gardens
  • Lacey Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Lacey Forest is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Forest
  • Pine Spring
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Pine Spring is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Spring
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Poplar Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Poplar Heights is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Heights
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Ravenwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Ravenwood is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenwood
    • Seven Corners
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Sleepy Hollow
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Sleepy Hollow is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sleepy Hollow
    • Valley Brook
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Valley Brook is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Brook
    • Virginia Forest
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Virginia Forest is located in Falls Church City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Forest
    • Walters Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Walters Woods is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters Woods

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Brockmont 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 6 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 just to the east (E).
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,904 miles [9,501.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,610 miles [10,637.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,487 miles [7,221.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Brockmont) 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 Brockmont 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 Brockmont. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8765, Longitude: -77.1822       In this case, the coordinates for Brockmont have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.976 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.534 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.783 degrees.