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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Chaintown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Chaintown 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 Chaintown:
    • 40.097018, -79.655318
    • 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 Chaintown
  • 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 Westmoreland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Since Chaintown is near Fayette County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Chaintown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Chaintown ...

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.

  • Alice
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Alice is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Buckeye
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Buckeye is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Coldbrook
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Coldbrook is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldbrook
  • Crossland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Crossland is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossland
  • Dry Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dry Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Hill
  • Eureka
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Eureka is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Fuller
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Fuller is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
  • Hawkeye
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hawkeye is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkeye
  • Hulltown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hulltown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hulltown
  • Iron Bridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Iron Bridge is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Bridge
  • Jacobs Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jacobs Creek is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs Creek
  • Kingview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Kingview is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingview
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Liberty
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Liberty is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
    • Lynn
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Lynn is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynn
    • Nellie
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Nellie is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nellie
    • Pinetree
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Pinetree is located in Westmoreland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinetree
    • Poplar Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Poplar Grove is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
    • Raineytown
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Raineytown is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raineytown
    • Walnut Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Walnut Hill is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Chaintown and extending to:

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Westmoreland County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Chaintown to Greensburg, 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 four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 146 miles [235 km] to the east (E). 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 162 miles [260.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,955 miles [9,583.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,671 miles [10,735.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,546 miles [7,316.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Chaintown) 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 Chaintown 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 Chaintown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0970, Longitude: -79.6553       In this case, the coordinates for Chaintown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.395 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.333 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.397 degrees.