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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Knob, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Knob 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 Knob:
    • 40.355039, -78.553282
    • 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 Knob
  • 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 Blair County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blair County
    • Since Blue Knob is near Cambria County and also Bedford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cambria County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford 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 Knob

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Knob ...

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.

  • Bens Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Claysburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Cotton Town
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cotton Town is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Town
  • Fiddlers Green
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Fiddlers Green is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fiddlers Green
  • Foot of Ten
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Foot of Ten is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foot of Ten
  • Fredericksburg
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fredericksburg is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fredericksburg
  • Friesville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Friesville is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friesville
  • Jamestown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jamestown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown
  • Lower Dutchtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lower Dutchtown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Dutchtown
  • Miller Shaft
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Miller Shaft is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miller Shaft
  • Musselman Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Musselman Grove is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musselman Grove
  • Oil City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oil City is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...

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

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

  • Hollidaysburg, which is the Seat of Blair County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Knob to Hollidaysburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 88 miles [141.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 128 miles [206 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,898 miles [9,491.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,613 miles [10,642.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,488 miles [7,222.7 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 '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 Knob) 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 Blue Knob 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 Knob. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3550, Longitude: -78.5533    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.707 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.592 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.81 degrees.