RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Boone, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Boone and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Boone:
    • 40.009247, -78.848356
    • 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 Boone
  • 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 Somerset County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Since Boone is near Bedford County and also Cambria County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cambria 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 Boone

Communities Also Named Boone ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Boone.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Boone is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Boone County
      • This Boone is located in Boone County and lies 805 miles [1,295.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Boone.
    • Colorado
      • Pueblo County
      • This Boone is located in Pueblo County and lies 1,361 miles [2,190.3 km]<1> to the west of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pueblo County community of Boone.
    • Iowa
      • Boone County
      • This Boone is located in Boone County and lies 794 miles [1,277.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Boone.
    • Kentucky
      • Rockcastle County
      • This Boone is located in Rockcastle County and lies 340 miles [547.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockcastle County community of Boone.
    • Mississippi
      • Coahoma County
      • This Boone is located in Coahoma County and lies 759 miles [1,221.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coahoma County community of Boone.
    • Missouri
      • Franklin 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 Missouri community of Boone [Franklin County].
    • Nebraska
      • Boone County
      • This Boone is located in Boone County and lies 1,000 miles [1,609.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Boone.
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga County
      • This Boone is located in Watauga County and lies 303 miles [487.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Watauga County community of Boone.
    • Oklahoma
      • Caddo County
      • This Boone is located in Caddo County and lies 1,128 miles [1,815.3 km]<1> to the west of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caddo County community of Boone.
    • Tennessee
      • Washington County
      • This Boone is located in Washington County and lies 317 miles [510.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Boone.
    • Texas
      • Hale County
      • This Boone is located in Hale County and lies 1,321 miles [2,125.9 km]<1> to the west of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hale County community of Boone.
    • Virginia
      • Chesapeake City
      • This Boone is located in Chesapeake City and lies 254 miles [408.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Boone that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chesapeake City community of Boone.
    • Washington
      • Yakima 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 Washington community of Boone [Yakima County].
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette 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 West Virginia community of Boone [Fayette County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Boone ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Forward
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Forward is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forward
  • Glen Savage
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Glen Savage is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Savage
  • Grand View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Grand View is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View
  • Helixville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Helixville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helixville
  • Indian Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Indian Lake is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
  • Johnsburg
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Reels Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Reels Corners is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reels Corners
  • Shaft
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Shaft is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaft
  • Shanksville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Somerset, which is the Seat of Somerset County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Boone to Somerset, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 105 miles [169 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 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 123 miles [197.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,925 miles [9,535.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,639 miles [10,684.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,515 miles [7,266.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Boone) 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 Boone, 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 Boone 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 Boone 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 Boone. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0092, Longitude: -78.8484       In this case, the coordinates for Boone have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.907 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.766 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.072 degrees.