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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Collingwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Collingwood 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 Collingwood:
    • 38.731782, -77.044977
    • 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 Collingwood
  • 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 Collingwood is near Prince George's County and also Charles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's 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 Collingwood

Communities Also Named Collingwood ...

We found nine communities that are also named Collingwood.

Within Virginia, the name Collingwood is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Lee County
      • This Collingwood is located in Lee County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Collingwood.
    • Indiana
      • DeKalb 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 Indiana community of Collingwood [DeKalb County].
      • Hamilton County
      • This Collingwood is located in Hamilton County and lies 484 miles [778.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Collingwood.
    • Kansas
      • Osage 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 Kansas community of Collingwood [Osage County].
    • Maryland
      • Saint Mary's County
      • This Collingwood is located in Saint Mary's County and lies 36 miles [57.9 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Mary's County community of Collingwood.
    • New York
      • Chemung County
      • This Collingwood is located in Chemung County and lies 239 miles [384.6 km]<1> to the north of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chemung County community of Collingwood.
      • Onondaga County
      • This Collingwood is located in Onondaga County and lies 289 miles [465.1 km] to the north of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Collingwood.
    • Ontario
      • This Collingwood lies 430 miles [692 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
    • Tennessee
      • Sullivan County
      • This Collingwood is located in Sullivan County and lies 320 miles [515 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Collingwood that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Collingwood.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Collingwood ...

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.

  • Cactus Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cactus Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Hill
  • Chapel Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Fort Hunt
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Fort Hunt is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunt
  • Friendly
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendly is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly
  • Friendly Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendly Farms is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Farms
  • Friendly Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Friendly Hills is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Hills
  • Gum Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Gum Springs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Springs
  • Harmony Hall
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Harmony Hall is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Hall
  • Hunter
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hunter is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Marlin Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Marlin Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlin Forest
  • Memorial Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Memorial Heights is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Heights
  • Riverside Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Riverside Gardens is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Gardens
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Riverview
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Riverview is located in Prince George's County (MD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Riverwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Riverwood is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
    • Spring Bank
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Spring Bank is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Bank
    • Sunnyview
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Sunnyview is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
    • Woodland Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Woodland Park is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Collingwood 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 11 miles [17.7 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,905 miles [9,503.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,486 miles [7,219.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Collingwood) 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 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 Collingwood 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 Collingwood 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 Collingwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7318, Longitude: -77.0450       In this case, the coordinates for Collingwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.905 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.43 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.781 degrees.