RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Stafford County >> Park Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Park Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Park Ridge 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 Park Ridge:
    • 38.462846, -77.449675
    • 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 Park Ridge
  • 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 Stafford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Stafford County
    • Since Park Ridge is near Prince William County and also Fauquier 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 Fauquier 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 Park Ridge

Communities Also Named Park Ridge ...

We found seven communities that are also named Park Ridge.

Within Virginia, the name Park Ridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Park Ridge is located in Cook County and lies 599 miles [964 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Park Ridge that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Park Ridge.
    • Indiana
      • Monroe 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 Park Ridge [Monroe County].
    • Maryland
      • Carroll County
      • This Park Ridge is located in Carroll County and lies 87 miles [140 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Park Ridge that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Park Ridge.
      • Montgomery 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 Maryland community of Park Ridge [Montgomery County].
    • New Jersey
      • Bergen 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 Jersey community of Park Ridge [Bergen County].
    • Texas
      • Harris County
      • This Park Ridge is located in Harris County and lies 1,201 miles [1,932.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Park Ridge that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harris County community of Park Ridge.
    • Wisconsin
      • Portage County
      • This Park Ridge is located in Portage County and lies 751 miles [1,208.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Park Ridge that is located in Stafford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portage County community of Park Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Park Ridge ...

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.

  • Apple Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Apple Grove is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Grove
  • Bells Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bells Run is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bells Run
  • Elizabeth Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Elizabeth Park is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabeth Park
  • Fritters Lane
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Fritters Lane is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fritters Lane
  • Heritage Oaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Heritage Oaks is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Oaks
  • Hunters Pond
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hunters Pond is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Pond
  • King James Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • King James Village is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King James Village
  • Liberty Place
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Liberty Place is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Place
  • Meadowlark
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Meadowlark is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowlark
  • Old Homestead
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Old Homestead is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Homestead
  • Patriots Landing
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Patriots Landing is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patriots Landing
  • Peppermint Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Peppermint Forest is located in Stafford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peppermint Forest
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Raintree
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Raintree is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
    • Roseville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Roseville is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
    • Settlers Landing
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Settlers Landing is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Settlers Landing
    • Shadow Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shadow Woods is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Woods
    • Sky Terrace
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Sky Terrace is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sky Terrace
    • Skywoods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Skywoods is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skywoods
    • Vintage Oaks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Vintage Oaks is located in Stafford County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Oaks

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

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

  • Stafford, which is the Seat of Stafford County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 63 miles [101.4 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Park Ridge to Richmond, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 37 miles [59.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,933 miles [9,548.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,638 miles [10,682.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,515 miles [7,266.2 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Park Ridge) 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 Park Ridge 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 Park Ridge 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 Park Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.4628, Longitude: -77.4497       In this case, the coordinates for Park Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.158 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.678 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.052 degrees.