RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Arlington County >> Fort Myer Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fort Myer Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Myer Heights 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 Fort Myer Heights:
    • 38.892056, -77.079422
    • 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 Fort Myer Heights
  • 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 Arlington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arlington County
    • Since Fort Myer Heights is near Alexandria City and also Fairfax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexandria City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax 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 Fort Myer Heights

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Myer Heights ...

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.

  • Cherrydale
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cherrydale is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrydale
  • Colonial Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Colonial Village is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
  • Crescent Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Crescent Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Hills
  • Dominion Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Dominion Heights is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion Heights
  • Dominion Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dominion Hills is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dominion Hills
  • Dover
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Dover is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
  • Garden City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Garden City is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
  • Glen Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Glen Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Forest
  • Green Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Green Valley is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Halls Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Halls Hill is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Hill
  • Lacey Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Lacey Forest is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Forest
  • Lee Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Lee Heights is located in Arlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Heights
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Lyon Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Lyon Park is located in Arlington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyon Park
    • Lyon Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Lyon Village is located in Arlington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyon Village
    • Riverwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Riverwood is located in Arlington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
    • Virginia Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Virginia Heights is located in Arlington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Heights
    • Virginia Highlands
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Virginia Highlands is located in Arlington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Highlands

How Far From Fort Myer Heights 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 Fort Myer Heights to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Fort Myer Heights and extending to:

  • Arlington, which is the Seat of Arlington County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Fort Myer Heights to Richmond, with an average speed<2>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 three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is just to the east (E).
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,899 miles [9,493.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,605 miles [10,629.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,482 miles [7,213.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Myer Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Fort Myer Heights 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 Fort Myer Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8921, Longitude: -77.0794       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Myer Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.915 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.467 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.734 degrees.