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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Centre Hall, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Centre Hall 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 Centre Hall:
    • 40.844505, -77.683436
    • 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 Centre Hall
  • 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 Centre County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Centre County
    • Since Centre Hall is near Mifflin County and also Huntingdon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mifflin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huntingdon 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 Centre Hall

Curious and Interesting Names Near Centre Hall ...

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.

  • Axemann
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Big Spring
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Big Spring is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Dale Summit
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Dale Summit is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale Summit
  • Farmers Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Farmers Mills is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers Mills
  • Fishermans Paradise
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Fishermans Paradise is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishermans Paradise
  • Forest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Forest is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest
  • Fruittown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Locust Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Locust Grove is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Mingoville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Mingoville is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingoville
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...

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

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

  • Bellefonte, which is the Seat of Centre County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 57 miles [91.7 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Centre Hall to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 138 miles [222.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). 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 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,842 miles [9,401.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,556 miles [10,550.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,432 miles [7,132.6 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 from Point A (ie- Centre Hall) 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 Centre Hall 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 Centre Hall. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8445, Longitude: -77.6834    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.143 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.029 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.23 degrees.