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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Black Diamond, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Black Diamond 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 Diamond:
    • 40.192768, -79.902314
    • 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 Diamond
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Black Diamond is near Allegheny County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Open the 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Black Diamond

Communities Also Named Black Diamond ...

We found nine communities that are also named Black Diamond.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Black Diamond is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Black Diamond is located in Jefferson County and lies 617 miles [993 km]<1> to the southwest of the Black Diamond that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Black Diamond.
    • Alberta
      • This Black Diamond lies 1,793 miles [2,885.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Black Diamond that is located in Washington County.
    • Arizona
      • Cochise County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of Black Diamond [Cochise County].
    • Arkansas
      • Miller County
      • This Black Diamond is located in Miller County and lies 914 miles [1,470.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Black Diamond that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miller County community of Black Diamond.
    • Florida
      • Citrus County
      • This Black Diamond is located in Citrus County and lies 792 miles [1,274.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Black Diamond that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Citrus County community of Black Diamond.
    • Indiana
      • Clark County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Black Diamond [Clark County].
    • Kentucky
      • Muhlenberg County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Black Diamond [Muhlenberg County].
    • Ohio
      • Fairfield County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Fairfield County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Black Diamond.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • This Black Diamond is located in King County and lies 2,129 miles [3,426.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Black Diamond that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Black Diamond.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Black Diamond ...

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.

  • Cracker Jack
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cracker Jack is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cracker Jack
  • Elkhorn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elkhorn is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Fisher
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fisher is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
  • Grandview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Grandview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Lockview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lockview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockview
  • New Eagle
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • River View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • River View is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River View
  • Riverview
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Riverview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Rogers Stop
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Rogers Stop is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers Stop
  • Shire Oaks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Shire Oaks is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shire Oaks
  • Sunny Side
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Twin Bridges
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Twin Bridges is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridges
  • Victory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Victory Hills is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Victory Hills

How Far From Black Diamond to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories 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 Diamond to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Black Diamond to Washington, with an average speed<5> 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 five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 159 miles [255.9 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 176 miles [283.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,961 miles [9,593.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,678 miles [10,747.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,553 miles [7,327.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Black Diamond) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Black Diamond, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Black Diamond 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Diamond 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 Diamond. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1928, Longitude: -79.9023    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.542 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.514 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.473 degrees.