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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Riverside Estates, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates:
    • 38.730393, -77.086923
    • 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 Riverside Estates
  • 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 Riverside Estates is near Prince George's County and also Charles County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Charles 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 Riverside Estates

Communities Also Named Riverside Estates ...

We found eight communities that are also named Riverside Estates.

There is one other community in Virginia that is also named Riverside Estates.

Beyond Virginia, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Virginia ...
    • Roanoke County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Roanoke County and lies 192 miles [309 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke County community of Riverside Estates.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Jefferson County and lies 656 miles [1,055.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Hillsborough County and lies 803 miles [1,292.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Georgia
      • Newton County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Newton County and lies 518 miles [833.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newton County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Maryland
      • Howard County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Howard County and lies 32 miles [51.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Riverside Estates.
    • North Carolina
      • Transylvania County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Transylvania County and lies 396 miles [637.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Transylvania County community of Riverside Estates.
    • Saskatchewan
      • 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 Saskatchewan community of Riverside Estates.
    • Texas
      • Hidalgo County
      • This Riverside Estates is located in Hidalgo County and lies 1,506 miles [2,423.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Riverside Estates that is located in Fairfax County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Riverside Estates.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Riverside Estates ...

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.

  • Cactus Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cactus Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Hill
  • Fair Haven
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Fair Haven is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Haven
  • Fort Hunt
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Fort Hunt is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunt
  • Gum Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Gum Springs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Springs
  • Hayfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hayfield is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hayfield
  • Hunter
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hunter is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Marlin Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Marlin Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlin Forest
  • Memorial Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Memorial Heights is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Heights
  • Riverside Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Riverside Gardens is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Gardens
  • Riverview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Riverview is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Riverwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Riverwood is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
  • Spring Bank
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Spring Bank is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Bank
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Sunnyview
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Sunnyview is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
    • Virginia Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Virginia Hills is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Hills
    • Woodland Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Woodland Park is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park
    • Woodlawn
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Woodlawn is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Yacht Haven
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Yacht Haven is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yacht Haven

How Far From Riverside Estates to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Riverside Estates to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Riverside Estates 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 11 miles [17.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six 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 6,611 miles [10,639.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,488 miles [7,222.7 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 from Point A (ie- Riverside Estates) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates 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 Riverside Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7304, Longitude: -77.0869       In this case, the coordinates for Riverside Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.929 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.458 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.799 degrees.