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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Eldora, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Eldora 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 Eldora:
    • 39.791216, -76.184121
    • 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 Eldora
  • 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 Lancaster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Since Eldora is near Cecil County and also York County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York 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 Eldora

Communities Also Named Eldora ...

We found nine communities that are also named Eldora.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Washington County
      • This Eldora is located in Washington County and lies 197 miles [317 km]<1> to the west of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Eldora.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Boulder County
      • This Eldora is located in Boulder County and lies 1,550 miles [2,494.5 km]<1> to the west of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boulder County community of Eldora.
    • Florida
      • Volusia County
      • This Eldora is located in Volusia County and lies 796 miles [1,281 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Volusia County community of Eldora.
    • Georgia
      • Bryan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Eldora [Bryan County].
    • Iowa
      • Hardin County
      • This Eldora is located in Hardin County and lies 896 miles [1,442 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hardin County community of Eldora.
    • Kansas
      • Bourbon County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Eldora [Bourbon County].
    • New Jersey
      • Cape May County
      • This Eldora is located in Cape May County and lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cape May County community of Eldora.
    • Texas
      • Hidalgo County
      • This Eldora is located in Hidalgo County and lies 1,572 miles [2,529.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hidalgo County community of Eldora.
    • West Virginia
      • Marion County
      • This Eldora is located in Marion County and lies 215 miles [346 km]<1> to the west of the Eldora that is located in Lancaster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Eldora.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Eldora ...

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.

  • Chestnut Level
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnut Level is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Level
  • Jenkins Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jenkins Corner is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Corner
  • Kirks Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kirks Mills is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirks Mills
  • Little Britain
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Little Britain is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Britain
  • Mechanic Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mechanic Grove is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Grove
  • New Texas
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • New Texas is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Oak Shade
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Oak Shade is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shade
  • Peach Bottom
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pleasant Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Rock Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Rock Springs is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
  • Summerhill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Summerhill is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill
  • Unicorn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Unicorn is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unicorn
  • Whispering Pines
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

How Far From Eldora to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Eldora to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Eldora to Lancaster, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 76 miles [122.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,824 miles [9,372.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,531 miles [10,510.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,407 miles [7,092.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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- Eldora) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Eldora 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.
<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 Eldora 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 Eldora. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7912, Longitude: -76.1841       In this case, the coordinates for Eldora have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.321 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.933 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.998 degrees.