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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Penn Daw Village, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Penn Daw Village 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 Penn Daw Village:
    • 38.785947, -77.081645
    • 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 Penn Daw Village
  • 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 Penn Daw Village is near Alexandria City and also Prince George's 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 Prince George's 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 Penn Daw Village

Curious and Interesting Names Near Penn Daw Village ...

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.

  • Cannon
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Cannon is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon
  • Chapel Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Clover
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Clover is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover
  • College Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • College Park is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Delta
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Delta is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
  • Duke Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Duke Gardens is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duke Gardens
  • Fair Haven
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Fair Haven is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Haven
  • Governors Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Governors Grove is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Governors Grove
  • Marlin Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Marlin Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlin Forest
  • Memorial Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Memorial Heights is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Heights
  • Piney Court
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Piney Court is located in Alexandria City
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Court
  • Ridgeview
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Ridgeview is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Rose Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Rose Hill is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Seminary Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Seminary Valley is located in Alexandria City
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminary Valley
    • Silver Springs
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Silver Springs is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
    • Spring Bank
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Spring Bank is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Bank
    • Virginia Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Virginia Hills is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills

How Far From Penn Daw Village 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 Penn Daw Village to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Penn Daw Village and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 88 miles [141.6 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Penn Daw Village 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 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 just to the north northeast (NNE).
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,904 miles [9,501.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,486 miles [7,219.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Penn Daw Village) 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 Penn Daw Village 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 Penn Daw Village. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7859, Longitude: -77.0816       In this case, the coordinates for Penn Daw Village have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.923 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.459 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.776 degrees.