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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Essen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Essen 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 Essen:
    • 40.362095, -80.082459
    • 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 Essen
  • 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since Essen is near Washington County and also Beaver County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Beaver 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 Essen

Communities Also Named Essen ...

We found two communities that are also named Essen.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Essen is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Essen is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 925 miles [1,488.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Essen that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Essen.
    • Nebraska
      • Burt County
      • This Essen is located in Burt County and lies 858 miles [1,380.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Essen that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burt County community of Essen.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Essen ...

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.

  • Cecil
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Curry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Curry is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry
  • Fairywood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Federal
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Federal is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Green Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Gregg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Gregg is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregg
  • Hillcrest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hillcrest is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Jewell
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jewell is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
  • Library Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Library Junction is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Library Junction
  • Longview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Longview is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • National Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • National Hill is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for National Hill
  • Option
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Option is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Option
  • Presto
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Rook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rook is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rook

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

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

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 168 miles [270.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Essen to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 190 miles [305.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,960 miles [9,591.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,679 miles [10,748.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,554 miles [7,329 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Essen) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Essen 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 Essen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3621, Longitude: -80.0825       In this case, the coordinates for Essen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.644 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.656 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.492 degrees.