Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bela, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bela and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bela
- 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 Bela:
- 41.050124, -79.577708
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Bela
- 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 Clarion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clarion County
- Since Bela is near Armstrong County and also Butler County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Armstrong County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Bela ...
We found one communities that share the name Bela.
Within Pennsylvania, the name Bela is unique.
Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named Bela in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bela ...
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.
- Bradys Bend
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradys Bend
- Bradys Bend is located in Armstrong County
- Catfish
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Diamond
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Dutch Hill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dutch Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Hill
- Dutch Hill is located in Clarion County
- Huey
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Maple Grove
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
- Maple Grove is located in Clarion County
- Queenstown
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Queenstown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queenstown
- Queenstown is located in Armstrong County
- Riverview
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Sandy Hollow
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandy Hollow have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Hollow
- Sandy Hollow is located in Clarion County
- Sarah Furnace
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sarah Furnace have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sarah Furnace
- Sarah Furnace is located in Clarion County
- Wildcat
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
How Far From Bela 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 Bela to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Bela and extending to:
- Clarion, which is the Seat of Clarion County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<3> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Bela to Clarion, with an average speed<4> 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 150 miles [241.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). 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 200 miles [321.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,910 miles [9,511.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,629 miles [10,668.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,505 miles [7,250.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bela. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Clarion County: www.co.clarion.pa.us/
The official website for State of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/
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 Bela 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> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | 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 from Point A (ie- Bela) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bela. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0501, Longitude: -79.5777 In this case, the coordinates for Bela have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Bela to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.294 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.365 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.008 degrees. |