Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Decatur, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Decatur and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Decatur
- 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 Decatur:
- 40.694238, -77.453882
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Decatur
- 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 Mifflin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mifflin County
- Since Decatur is near Juniata County and also Snyder County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Juniata County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Decatur ...
We found twenty communities that share the name Decatur.
Within Pennsylvania, the name Decatur is unique.
Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of another twenty communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Cape Girardeau County
- This Decatur is located in Cape Girardeau County and lies 688 miles [1,107.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Decatur that is located in Mifflin County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cape Girardeau County community of Decatur.
- Cole County
- This Decatur is located in Cole County and lies 810 miles [1,303.6 km] to the west of the Decatur that is located in Mifflin County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cole County community of Decatur.
- Nebraska
- New York
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Rockbridge County
- This Decatur is located in Rockbridge County and lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Decatur that is located in Mifflin County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockbridge County community of Decatur.
- Stafford County
- This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Decatur [Stafford County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Decatur ...
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.
- Belltown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Honey
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west) - Honey Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Honey Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honey Creek
- Honey Creek is located in Mifflin County
- Knobville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Little Roundtop
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Roundtop have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Roundtop
- Little Roundtop is located in Juniata County
- Locke Mills
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Locke Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locke Mills
- Locke Mills is located in Mifflin County
- Paintersville
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Paintersville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paintersville
- Paintersville is located in Mifflin County
- Snook
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
How Far From Decatur 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 Decatur to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Decatur and extending to:
- Lewistown, which is the Seat of Mifflin County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Decatur to Lewistown, with an average speed<5> 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 41 miles [66 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 126 miles [202.8 km] to the south (S). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,839 miles [9,397 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,552 miles [10,544.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,427 miles [7,124.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Decatur. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Mifflin County: www.co.mifflin.pa.us/
The official website for State of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Decatur) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Decatur. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6942, Longitude: -77.4539 In this case, the coordinates for Decatur have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Decatur, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Decatur 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Decatur to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.015 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.86 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.188 degrees. |