RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Bedford County >> Gravel Pit >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gravel Pit, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gravel Pit 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 Gravel Pit:
    • 39.878694, -78.688908
    • 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 Gravel Pit
  • 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 Bedford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
    • Since Gravel Pit is near Somerset County and also Allegany County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegany 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 Gravel Pit

Communities Also Named Gravel Pit ...

We found eight communities that are also named Gravel Pit.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Gravel Pit is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Escambia 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 Alabama community of Gravel Pit [Escambia County].
    • Arkansas
      • Ouachita 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 Arkansas community of Gravel Pit [Ouachita County].
    • Illinois
      • Alexander 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 Gravel Pit [Alexander County].
    • Indiana
      • Knox 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 Indiana community of Gravel Pit [Knox County].
      • Madison County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Gravel Pit [Madison County].
      • Vigo County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Gravel Pit [Vigo County].
    • Iowa
      • Greene County
      • This Gravel Pit is located in Greene County and lies 826 miles [1,329.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Gravel Pit that is located in Bedford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Gravel Pit.
    • Nevada
      • Mineral County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Mineral County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mineral County community of Gravel Pit.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gravel Pit ...

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.

  • Bard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bard is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bard
  • Burning Bush
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Burning Bush is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burning Bush
  • Centerville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Centerville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Fossilville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Fossilville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fossilville
  • Glen Savage
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Glen Savage is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Savage
  • Johnsburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Patience
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Patience is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patience
  • Rockville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rockville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
  • Sulphur Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs

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

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

  • Bedford, which is the Seat of Bedford County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Gravel Pit to Bedford, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 99 miles [159.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 111 miles [178.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,925 miles [9,535.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,638 miles [10,682.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,513 miles [7,263 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 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 Gravel Pit 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 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Gravel Pit) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Gravel Pit, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Gravel Pit 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 Gravel Pit. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8787, Longitude: -78.6889       In this case, the coordinates for Gravel Pit have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.818 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.644 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.051 degrees.