RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Butler County >> Annandale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Annandale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Annandale 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 Annandale:
    • 41.091173, -79.892832
    • 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 Annandale
  • 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 Butler County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butler County
    • Since Annandale is near Venango County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Venango County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Annandale

Communities Also Named Annandale ...

We found seven communities that are also named Annandale.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Annandale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Howard County
      • This Annandale is located in Howard County and lies 196 miles [315.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Howard County community of Annandale.
    • Minnesota
      • Wright County
      • This Annandale is located in Wright County and lies 770 miles [1,239.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wright County community of Annandale.
    • Mississippi
      • Madison County
      • This Annandale is located in Madison County and lies 820 miles [1,319.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Annandale.
    • New Jersey
      • Hunterdon County
      • This Annandale is located in Hunterdon County and lies 263 miles [423.3 km]<1> to the east of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hunterdon County community of Annandale.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Annandale lies 940 miles [1,512.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
    • South Carolina
      • Georgetown County
      • 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 South Carolina community of Annandale [Georgetown County].
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Annandale is located in Fairfax County and lies 211 miles [339.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Annandale that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Annandale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Annandale ...

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.

  • Annisville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Annisville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Annisville
  • Cherry Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cherry Valley is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
  • Ferris
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Ferris is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferris
  • Five Points
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Forestville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Forestville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestville
  • Parsonville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Parsonville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsonville
  • Peaceful Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Peaceful Valley is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
  • Whiskerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Whiskerville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskerville
  • Wick
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Wick is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wick

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

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

  • Butler, which is the Seat of Butler County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Annandale to Butler, 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 four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 167 miles [268.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 213 miles [342.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,921 miles [9,528.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,641 miles [10,687.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,517 miles [7,269.4 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Annandale) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Annandale 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 Annandale 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 Annandale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0912, Longitude: -79.8928       In this case, the coordinates for Annandale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.488 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.59 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.137 degrees.