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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Aspinwall, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Aspinwall 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 Aspinwall:
    • 40.492846, -79.903940
    • 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 Aspinwall
  • 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since Aspinwall is near Westmoreland County and also Butler County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butler 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 Aspinwall

Communities Also Named Aspinwall ...

We found five communities that are also named Aspinwall.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Aspinwall.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Bradford 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 Pennsylvania community of Aspinwall [Bradford County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Pierce County
      • This Aspinwall is located in Pierce County and lies 638 miles [1,026.8 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Aspinwall that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pierce County community of Aspinwall.
    • Iowa
      • Crawford County
      • This Aspinwall is located in Crawford County and lies 796 miles [1,281 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Aspinwall that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crawford County community of Aspinwall.
    • Michigan
      • Jackson 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 Michigan community of Aspinwall [Jackson County].
    • Nebraska
      • Nemaha 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 Nebraska community of Aspinwall [Nemaha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Aspinwall ...

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.

  • Cherry City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Cherry City is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry City
  • Crescent Hills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Crescent Hills is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Hills
  • Elfinwild
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Elfinwild is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elfinwild
  • Evergreen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Evergreen is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Fox Chapel
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Frick Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Frick Park is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frick Park
  • Friendship
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Friendship is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Highland
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Highland is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Homewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Homewood is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Lincoln Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Nadine
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Nadine is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nadine
  • Peter Mans Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Peter Mans Corner is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peter Mans Corner
  • Continue List   (8 more) ...
    • Point Breeze
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Point Breeze is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Breeze
    • Regent Square
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Regent Square is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regent Square
    • Rosedale
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Rosedale is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
    • Sandy Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Sandy Creek is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Creek
    • Shadyside
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Shadyside is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadyside
    • Spring Garden
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Spring Garden is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
    • Squirrel Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Squirrel Hill is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squirrel Hill
    • Swissvale
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 159 miles [255.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Aspinwall to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 187 miles [300.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,947 miles [9,570.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,666 miles [10,727.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,541 miles [7,308 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Aspinwall 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 '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- Aspinwall) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Aspinwall 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 Aspinwall. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4928, Longitude: -79.9039       In this case, the coordinates for Aspinwall have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.527 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.544 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.364 degrees.