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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ariosa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ariosa and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Ariosa:
    • 39.977316, -77.174704
    • 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 Ariosa
  • 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 Adams County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Since Ariosa is near Cumberland County and also York County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York 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 Ariosa

Communities Also Named Ariosa ...

We found one communities that are also named Ariosa.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Ariosa is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named Ariosa in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Wyoming
      • Laramie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Ariosa [Laramie County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ariosa ...

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.

  • Chestnut Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Points is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Floradale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Floradale is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floradale
  • Goldenville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Goldenville is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldenville
  • Goodyear
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Goodyear is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodyear
  • Guernsey
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Guernsey is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guernsey
  • Hunters Run
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hunters Run is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Run
  • Hunterstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Hunterstown is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunterstown
  • Peach Glen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Peach Glen is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peach Glen
  • Plainview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Plainview is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainview
  • Table Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Table Rock is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Table Rock

How Far From Ariosa to ...

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

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

  • Gettysburg, which is the Seat of Adams County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ariosa to Gettysburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 74 miles [119.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,857 miles [9,425.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,567 miles [10,568.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,443 miles [7,150.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Ariosa 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ariosa) 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 Ariosa 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 Ariosa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9773, Longitude: -77.1747       In this case, the coordinates for Ariosa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.899 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.616 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.351 degrees.