RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Lancaster County >> Black Baron >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Black Baron, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Black Baron 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 Black Baron:
    • 39.735384, -76.191620
    • 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 Black Baron
  • 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 Lancaster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Since Black Baron is near Cecil County and also Harford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harford 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 Black Baron

Curious and Interesting Names Near Black Baron ...

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.

  • Bald Friar ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Bald Friar is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bald Friar
  • Five Points ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Jenkins Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Jenkins Corner is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Corner
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • New Texas
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • New Texas is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Peach Bottom
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Pilot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Pilot is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot
  • Pleasant Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Rock Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock Springs is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
  • Whispering Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

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

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

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Black Baron to Lancaster, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 52 miles [83.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 73 miles [117.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving 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 5,826 miles [9,376 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,533 miles [10,513.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,410 miles [7,097.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 from Point A (ie- Black Baron) 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 Black Baron 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 Black Baron. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7354, Longitude: -76.1916       In this case, the coordinates for Black Baron have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.33 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.934 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.024 degrees.