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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Matildaville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Matildaville 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 Matildaville:
    • 38.997332, -77.262759
    • 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 Matildaville
  • 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 Matildaville is near Montgomery County and also Loudoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Loudoun 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 Matildaville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Matildaville ...

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.

  • Cinnamon Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cinnamon Creek is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cinnamon Creek
  • Deanwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Deanwood is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deanwood
  • Four Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Four Corners is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Glen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen is located in Montgomery County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen
  • Great Falls
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Great Falls is located in Montgomery County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Falls
  • Hickory Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hickory Creek is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Creek
  • Hickory Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hickory Run is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Run
  • Lake Potomac
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lake Potomac is located in Montgomery County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Potomac
  • Peacock
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Peacock is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peacock
  • Pinecrest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Pinecrest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinecrest
  • Springvale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Springvale is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springvale
  • Sun Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Sun Valley is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun Valley
  • Swinks Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Swinks Mill is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swinks Mill
  • Wolf Trap
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Wolf Trap is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Trap

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Matildaville once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Matildaville and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Matildaville 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 three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 13 miles [20.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take 6 hours.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,903 miles [9,500 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 4,485 miles [7,217.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Matildaville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>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- Matildaville) 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 Matildaville 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 Matildaville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9973, Longitude: -77.2628       In this case, the coordinates for Matildaville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.017 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.599 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.771 degrees.