RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Forest County >> Blue Jay >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Jay, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Jay 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 Blue Jay:
    • 41.550895, -79.128096
    • 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 Blue Jay
  • 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 Forest County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Forest County
    • Since Blue Jay is near Warren County and also Elk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elk 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 Blue Jay

Communities Also Named Blue Jay ...

We found four communities that are also named Blue Jay.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Blue Jay is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Blue Jay lies 1,766 miles [2,842.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blue Jay that is located in Forest County.
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Blue Jay is located in San Bernardino County and lies 2,116 miles [3,405.4 km]<1> to the west of the Blue Jay that is located in Forest County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Blue Jay.
    • Ohio
      • Hamilton County
      • This Blue Jay is located in Hamilton County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Jay that is located in Forest County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Blue Jay.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh County
      • This Blue Jay is located in Raleigh County and lies 284 miles [457.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Blue Jay that is located in Forest County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Raleigh County community of Blue Jay.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Jay ...

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.

  • Balltown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Balltown is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balltown
  • Henrys Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Henrys Mills is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrys Mills
  • Iron City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Iron City is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron City
  • Lynch
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Lynch is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynch
  • Mayburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Mayburg is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayburg
  • Minister
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Minister is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minister
  • Pigeon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Pigeon is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeon
  • Roses
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Roses is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roses
  • Truemans
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Truemans is located in Forest County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truemans

How Far From Blue Jay 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 Blue Jay to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Tionesta, which is the Seat of Forest County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Jay to Tionesta, with an average speed<2> 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 five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 146 miles [235 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 213 miles [342.8 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,870 miles [9,446.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,590 miles [10,605.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,466 miles [7,187.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Blue Jay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Blue Jay 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 Blue Jay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5509, Longitude: -79.1281       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Jay have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.983 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.09 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.609 degrees.