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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cowan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cowan 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 Cowan:
    • 40.957583, -77.013581
    • 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 Cowan
  • 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 Union County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Since Cowan is near Northumberland County and also Snyder County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Snyder 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 Cowan

Communities Also Named Cowan ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Cowan.

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

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, ten are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Armstrong 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 Cowan [Armstrong County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Marion County
      • This Cowan is located in Marion County and lies 904 miles [1,454.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Cowan.
    • Georgia
      • Morgan 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 Georgia community of Cowan [Morgan County].
    • Indiana
      • Delaware County
      • This Cowan is located in Delaware County and lies 443 miles [712.9 km]<2> to the west of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Delaware County community of Cowan.
    • Kentucky
      • Fleming County
      • This Cowan is located in Fleming County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fleming County community of Cowan.
    • Manitoba
      • This Cowan lies 1,349 miles [2,171 km]<2> to the northwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
    • Missouri
      • Christian County
      • This Cowan is located in Christian County and lies 905 miles [1,456.5 km]<2> to the west of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Christian County community of Cowan.
    • Montana
      • Gallatin County
      • This Cowan is located in Gallatin County and lies 1,733 miles [2,789 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gallatin County community of Cowan.
    • Quebec
      • This Cowan lies 329 miles [529.5 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
    • Tennessee
      • Franklin County
      • This Cowan is located in Franklin County and lies 631 miles [1,015.5 km]<2> to the southwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Cowan.
    • Texas
      • Erath 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 Texas community of Cowan [Erath County].
    • Virginia
      • Pulaski County
      • This Cowan is located in Pulaski County and lies 322 miles [518.2 km]<2> to the southwest of the Cowan that is located in Union County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Cowan.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cowan ...

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.

  • Buffalo Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Buffalo Crossroads is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Crossroads
  • College Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • College Park is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for College Park
  • Dice
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Dice is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dice
  • Dry Valley Crossroads
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Fairville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Fairville is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairville
  • Johnstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Johnstown is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Kelly Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kelly Crossroads is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly Crossroads
  • Kelly Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Kelly Point is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kelly Point
  • Lewisburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Pleasant Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Red Bank
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Red Bank is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
  • Tannertown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Tannertown is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tannertown
  • Wildwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Wildwood is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood

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

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

  • Lewisburg, which is the Seat of Union County, lies just to the East.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Cowan to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 142 miles [228.5 km] to the south (S). 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,809 miles [9,348.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,523 miles [10,497.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,398 miles [7,077.9 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Cowan 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- Cowan) 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 Cowan 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 Cowan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9576, Longitude: -77.0136       In this case, the coordinates for Cowan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.727 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.575 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.885 degrees.