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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Tauxenent, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tauxenent 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 Tauxenent:
    • 38.709282, -77.086645
    • 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 Tauxenent
  • 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 Tauxenent 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 Tauxenent

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tauxenent ...

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
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Cactus Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Hill
  • Fort Hunt
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fort Hunt is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunt
  • Gum Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] 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 northeast)
    • Hunter is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Marlin Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Marlin Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlin Forest
  • Riverside Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • 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 southwest)
    • Riverwood is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
  • Sunnyview
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Sunnyview is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
  • Woodland Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • 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
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Yacht Haven is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yacht Haven

How Far From Tauxenent 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 Tauxenent 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 Tauxenent once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Tauxenent and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 82 miles [132 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Tauxenent 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 13 miles [20.9 km] to the north (N). 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 5,908 miles [9,508 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>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 Tauxenent, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Tauxenent) 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 Tauxenent 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 Tauxenent. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7093, Longitude: -77.0866       In this case, the coordinates for Tauxenent have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.93 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.456 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.807 degrees.