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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Collinsburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Collinsburg 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 Collinsburg:
    • 40.224238, -79.768378
    • 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 Collinsburg
  • 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 Collinsburg is near Allegheny County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny 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 Collinsburg

Communities Also Named Collinsburg ...

We found two communities that are also named Collinsburg.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Collinsburg is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Johnson 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 Illinois community of Collinsburg [Johnson County].
    • Louisiana
      • Bossier Parish
      • This Collinsburg is located in Bossier Parish and lies 925 miles [1,488.6 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Collinsburg that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bossier Parish community of Collinsburg.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Collinsburg ...

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.

  • Alpsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Alpsville is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpsville
  • Dick
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dick is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dick
  • Eureka
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Eureka is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Evanstown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Evanstown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evanstown
  • Herminie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Industry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Industry is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Industry
  • Keystone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Keystone is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Lake Denise
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Lake Denise is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Denise
  • Mustard
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Mustard is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustard
  • Reduction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Reduction is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reduction
  • Robbins
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Robbins is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robbins
  • Sunset Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Sunset Valley is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Valley
  • Turkeytown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Turkeytown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeytown
  • Vista
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Vista is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vista

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

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

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Westmoreland County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Collinsburg to Greensburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours 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 152 miles [244.6 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 171 miles [275.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,954 miles [9,582 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,671 miles [10,735.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,546 miles [7,316.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 Collinsburg 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Collinsburg) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Collinsburg 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 Collinsburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2242, Longitude: -79.7684       In this case, the coordinates for Collinsburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.458 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.424 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.401 degrees.