Where I go for Astrophotography

I photograph from my back yard 28 miles south of Washington D.C., from a farm 7 miles south southeast of Blueknob State Park, PA;
and from my back yard north of Myrtle Beach, SC.

My back yard in the DC suburbs is located 28 miles south of Washington, DC and 9 miles north northeast of the Stafford, VA clear sky map center.
The actual location is shown by the arrow in this image. .

My South Carolina back yard is located 2 miles north of North Myrtle Beach and is shown in the arrow in this image.
This is Myrtle Beach, SC clear sky map center.

The farm is located 18 miles south southwest of the
Altoona, PA clear sky map center. The actual location is shown by the arrow in this image.

The scale on the Stafford clear sky map measures 180 miles wide by 240 miles high, even though the image appears square.
These map locations place the farm in a yellow colored region and my DC and SC backyards in an orange colored region.

The yellow region is defined as Bortle scale 4.5, (Some dark lanes in milkyway but no bulge into Ophiuchus.
Washed out milkyway visible near horizon. Zodiacal light very rare. Light domes up to 45 degrees. Limiting magnitude about 5.9 to 6.2.).

The orange region is defined as Bortle scale 5, (Milkyway washed out at zenith and invisible at horizon. Many light domes. Clouds are brighter than sky.
M31 easily visible. Limiting magnitude about 5.6 to 5.9.)

Despite the clear sky map I believe the farm is a Bortle scale 4 because the
Milky Way does show a lot of dark lane structure.