RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Westmoreland County >> Alliance Furnace >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Alliance Furnace, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alliance Furnace 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 Alliance Furnace:
    • 40.113962, -79.718653
    • 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 Alliance Furnace
  • 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 Westmoreland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Since Alliance Furnace is near Fayette County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Alliance Furnace

Curious and Interesting Names Near Alliance Furnace ...

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.

  • Chaintown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chaintown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaintown
  • Curfew
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Curfew is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curfew
  • Dry Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Dry Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Hill
  • Eureka
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Eureka is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Flatwoods
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Flatwoods is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwoods
  • Fuller
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fuller is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
  • Hawkeye
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Hawkeye is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkeye
  • Hulltown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hulltown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hulltown
  • Jacobs Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jacobs Creek is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs Creek
  • Liberty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Liberty is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Lynn
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynn is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
  • Naomi
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Naomi is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naomi
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Nellie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Nellie is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nellie
    • Pinetree
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Pinetree is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinetree
    • Pricedale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Pricedale is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pricedale
    • Raineytown
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Raineytown is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raineytown
    • Redstone
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Redstone is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redstone
    • Reduction
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Reduction is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reduction
    • Star Junction
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Turkeytown
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Turkeytown is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown

How Far From Alliance Furnace 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 Alliance Furnace to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Alliance Furnace and extending to:

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Westmoreland County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Alliance Furnace to Greensburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 150 miles [241.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 165 miles [265.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,957 miles [9,586.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,673 miles [10,739.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,548 miles [7,319.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alliance Furnace) 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 Alliance Furnace 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 Alliance Furnace. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1140, Longitude: -79.7187       In this case, the coordinates for Alliance Furnace have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.433 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.379 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.419 degrees.