Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blacks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blacks and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blacks
- 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 Blacks:
- 41.208116, -79.757829
- 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 Blacks
- 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 Venango County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Venango County
- Since Blacks is near Butler County and also Clarion County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Butler County
- eBird sighting report for Clarion 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 Blacks ...
We found five communities that share the name Blacks.
There is one other community in Pennsylvania which is also named Blacks.
Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Maryland
- South Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blacks ...
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.
- Alum Rock
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alum Rock
- Alum Rock is located in Clarion County
- Bonus
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south) - Cherry Valley
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cherry Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Valley
- Cherry Valley is located in Butler County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
- Coal City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal City
- Coal City is located in Venango County
- Foxburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxburg
- Foxburg is located in Clarion County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 173 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Foxburg <5>
- Lisbon
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the west) - Mariasville
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mariasville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariasville
- Mariasville is located in Venango County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mariasville <5>
- Riddle Crossroads
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Riddle Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddle Crossroads
- Riddle Crossroads is located in Venango County
- Rockland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Sandy Point
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sandy Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point
- Sandy Point is located in Butler County
- Turkey City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey City
- Turkey City is located in Clarion County
How Far From Blacks to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Blacks to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blacks and extending to:
- Franklin, which is the Seat of Venango County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blacks to Franklin, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 163 miles [262.3 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 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 214 miles [344.4 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
- The shortest distance<7> 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).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,631 miles [10,671.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,506 miles [7,251.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blacks. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Venango County: www.co.venango.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 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 Blacks 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> | 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 Blacks, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Blacks) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blacks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2081, Longitude: -79.7578 In this case, the coordinates for Blacks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Blacks 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 309.397 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.505 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.031 degrees. |