RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Montgomery County >> Barren Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Barren Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barren Hill 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 Barren Hill:
    • 40.087333, -75.262958
    • 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 Barren Hill
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Barren Hill is near Philadelphia County and also Indiana County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Philadelphia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Indiana 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 Barren Hill

Communities Also Named Barren Hill ...

We found one communities that are also named Barren Hill.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Barren Hill is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named Barren Hill in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Barren Hill lies 835 miles [1,343.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Barren Hill that is located in Montgomery County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Barren Hill ...

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.

  • Black Horse
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Black Horse is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Horse
  • Broad Axe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Cherry Dale
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Cherry Dale is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Dale
  • Chestnut Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Philadelphia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Cold Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cold Point is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Point
  • Five Points
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Flourtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Gravers
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Gravers is located in Philadelphia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravers
  • Hickorytown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickorytown is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickorytown
  • Highland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Highland is located in Philadelphia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Hollow Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hollow Woods is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollow Woods
  • Ivy Rock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Ivy Rock is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy Rock
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Joshua Knoll
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Joshua Knoll is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joshua Knoll
    • Marble Hall
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Marble Hall is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble Hall
    • Mechanicsville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Mechanicsville is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
    • Plymouth Meeting
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Roseglen
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Roseglen is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseglen
    • Seven Stars
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Seven Stars is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Stars
    • Spring Mill
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Spring Mill is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Mill
    • Sunnybrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Sunnybrook is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnybrook
    • Swedeland
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Swedeland is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedeland
    • Swedesburg
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Swedesburg is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedesburg
    • Valley Green
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Valley Green is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Green

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Barren Hill to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 125 miles [201.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,772 miles [9,289.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,478 miles [10,425.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,355 miles [7,008.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 from Point A (ie- Barren Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Barren Hill 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 Barren Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0873, Longitude: -75.2630       In this case, the coordinates for Barren Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.75 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.332 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.48 degrees.