Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Benjamin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Benjamin and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Benjamin
- 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 Benjamin:
- 40.633678, -79.839774
- 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 Benjamin
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
- Since Benjamin is near Butler County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Butler County
- eBird sighting report for Westmoreland 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 Benjamin ...
We found seven communities that share the name Benjamin.
There is one other community in Pennsylvania which is also named Benjamin.
Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Texas
- Utah
Curious and Interesting Names Near Benjamin ...
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.
- Arnold
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Arnold have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
- Arnold is located in Westmoreland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,790 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arnold <5>
- Bakerstown
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bakerstown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bakerstown
- Bakerstown is located in Allegheny County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bakerstown <5>
- Birdville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Curtisville
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curtisville
- Curtisville is located in Allegheny County
- Edgecliff
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Hardy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Houseville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Houseville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houseville
- Houseville is located in Butler County
- Ivywood
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Mineral Spring
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mineral Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Spring
- Mineral Spring is located in Butler County
- Pleasantville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasantville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasantville
- Pleasantville is located in Allegheny County
- Red Hot
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - River Valley
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for River Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Valley
- River Valley is located in Allegheny County
- Rural Ridge
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rural Ridge
- Rural Ridge is located in Allegheny County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rural Ridge <5>
- Valley Camp
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valley Camp have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Camp
- Valley Camp is located in Westmoreland County
How Far From Benjamin 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 Benjamin to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Benjamin and extending to:
- Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Benjamin to Pittsburgh, with an average speed<6> 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 157 miles [252.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 191 miles [307.4 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,939 miles [9,557.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,657 miles [10,713.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,533 miles [7,295.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Benjamin. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Allegheny County: www.county.allegheny.pa.us/
The official website for Commonwealth 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Benjamin 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Benjamin) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Benjamin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6337, Longitude: -79.8398 In this case, the coordinates for Benjamin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Benjamin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Benjamin to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.48 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.512 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.283 degrees. |