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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in German, we use the following websites to find information relevant to German and the surrounding area.

  • 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 German:
    • 38.932611, -77.527213
    • 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 German
  • 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 Loudoun County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun County
    • Since German is near Prince William County and also Fairfax County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince William County
    • 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 German

Communities Also Named German ...

We found five communities that are also named German.

Within Virginia, the name German is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sonoma County
      • This German is located in Sonoma County and lies 2,442 miles [3,930 km]<1> to the west northwest of the German that is located in Loudoun County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sonoma County community of German.
    • New York
      • Chenango 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 German [Chenango County].
    • Ohio
      • Darke 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 Ohio community of German [Darke County].
      • Pike County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of German [Pike County].
    • West Virginia
      • Braxton County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of German [Braxton County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near German ...

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.

  • Butler
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Butler is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler
  • Cooktown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Cooktown is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooktown
  • Crescent
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Crescent is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent
  • Dover
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Dover is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
  • Evergreen Farms
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Evergreen Farms is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Farms
  • Evergreen Mills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Evergreen Mills is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Mills
  • Gilberts Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Gilberts Corner is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilberts Corner
  • Graves
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Graves is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graves
  • Hickory Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Prince William County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Landmark
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Landmark is located in Fauquier County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landmark
  • Lees Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lees Corner is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Corner
  • Little Washington
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Washington is located in Loudoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Washington
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • London Towne
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • London Towne is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London Towne
    • Moneys Corner
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Moneys Corner is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moneys Corner
    • Navy
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Navy is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Navy
    • Oak Grove
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Loudoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Royville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Royville is located in Loudoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royville
    • Snow Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Snow Hill is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snow Hill
    • Stoke
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Stoke is located in Loudoun County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoke
    • Uniontown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Uniontown is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown
    • Waterfall Village
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Waterfall Village is located in Prince William County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterfall Village

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

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

  • Leesburg, which is the Seat of Loudoun County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from German to Leesburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 96 miles [154.5 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 26 miles [41.8 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,917 miles [9,522.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,623 miles [10,658.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,500 miles [7,242 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- German) 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 German 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about German, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 German 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 German. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9326, Longitude: -77.5272       In this case, the coordinates for German have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.177 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.771 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.907 degrees.