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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hillbrook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hillbrook 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 Hillbrook:
    • 38.826224, -77.185537
    • 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 Hillbrook
  • 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 Hillbrook is near Alexandria City and also Falls Church City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexandria City
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Falls Church City
  • 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 Hillbrook

Communities Also Named Hillbrook ...

We found five communities that are also named Hillbrook.

Within Virginia, the name Hillbrook is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Columbia County
      • This Hillbrook is located in Columbia County and lies 459 miles [738.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hillbrook that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Hillbrook.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Hillbrook is located in Baltimore County and lies 50 miles [80.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Hillbrook that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Hillbrook.
    • Mississippi
      • Oktibbeha County
      • This Hillbrook is located in Oktibbeha County and lies 745 miles [1,199 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Hillbrook that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oktibbeha County community of Hillbrook.
    • South Carolina
      • Cherokee County
      • This Hillbrook is located in Cherokee County and lies 356 miles [572.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Hillbrook that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Hillbrook.
      • Spartanburg 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 South Carolina community of Hillbrook [Spartanburg County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hillbrook ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Alpine is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Camelot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Camelot is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Cedar Crest
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Cedar Crest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Crest
  • Chestnut Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Indian Run Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Indian Run Park is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Run Park
  • Indian Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Indian Springs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
  • Mount Pleasant
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Valley Brook
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Valley Brook is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Brook
  • Walters Woods
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Walters Woods is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walters Woods
  • Willow Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Willow Run is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Run

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

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Hillbrook 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 9 miles [14.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). The buggy would take a little over three hours and walking would take four to five hours.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,907 miles [9,506.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,612 miles [10,641 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,489 miles [7,224.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Hillbrook) 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 Hillbrook 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 Hillbrook 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 Hillbrook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.8262, Longitude: -77.1855       In this case, the coordinates for Hillbrook have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.982 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.532 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.804 degrees.