RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Schuylkill County >> Bowmans >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Bowmans, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bowmans 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 Bowmans:
    • 40.823977, -76.139381
    • 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 Bowmans
  • 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 Schuylkill County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schuylkill County
    • Since Bowmans is near Luzerne County and also Carbon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Luzerne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carbon 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 Bowmans

Communities Also Named Bowmans ...

We found three communities that are also named Bowmans.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Bowmans.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Forest County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Bowmans [Forest County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Bowmans.
    • Virginia
      • Shenandoah County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Bowmans [Shenandoah County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Bowmans ...

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.

  • Bear Run Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bear Run Junction is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Run Junction
  • Boston Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Boston Run is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston Run
  • Craigs
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Craigs is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craigs
  • Ellen Gowan
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Ellen Gowan is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellen Gowan
  • Hills Terrace
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hills Terrace is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Terrace
  • Krebs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Krebs is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krebs
  • Locust Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Locust Valley is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Valley
  • Maizeville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maizeville is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maizeville
  • Maple Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Maple Hill is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Hill
  • Pine Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Pine Junction is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Junction
  • Shoemakers
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Shoemakers is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoemakers
  • Turkey Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Turkey Run is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Run
  • Vulcan
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Vulcan is located in Schuylkill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vulcan

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Bowmans and extending to:

  • Pottsville, which is the Seat of Schuylkill County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Bowmans to Pottsville, with an average speed<4> 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 53 miles [85.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 141 miles [226.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,779 miles [9,300.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,490 miles [10,444.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,365 miles [7,024.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Bowmans 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 Bowmans, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Bowmans) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Bowmans 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 Bowmans. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8240, Longitude: -76.1394       In this case, the coordinates for Bowmans have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.209 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.967 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.551 degrees.