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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gwendale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gwendale 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 Gwendale:
    • 39.987598, -76.744689
    • 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 Gwendale
  • 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 York County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York County
    • Since Gwendale is near Lancaster County and also Dauphin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin 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 Gwendale

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gwendale ...

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.

  • Clear View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Clear View is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear View
  • Fairway
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fairway is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairway
  • Fayfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fayfield is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayfield
  • Fireside Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fireside Park is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fireside Park
  • Fireside Terrace
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Fireside Terrace is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fireside Terrace
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Acres is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Green Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Green Hill is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Greenridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenridge is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenridge
  • Herman Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Herman Heights is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herman Heights
  • Holly Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Holly Heights is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Heights
  • Pleasureville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pleasureville is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasureville
  • Poplars
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Poplars is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplars
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Randolph Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Randolph Park is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph Park
    • Roundtown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Roundtown is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundtown
    • Skyline Heights
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Skyline Heights is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline Heights
    • Violet Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Violet Hill is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Violet Hill
    • Woodland View
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Woodland View is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland View
    • Woodstream
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Woodstream is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodstream

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Gwendale and extending to:

  • York, which is the Seat of York County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Gwendale to Harrisburg, with an average speed<2> 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 most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 76 miles [122.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> 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).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,548 miles [10,538 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,424 miles [7,119.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Gwendale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Gwendale 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 Gwendale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9876, Longitude: -76.7447       In this case, the coordinates for Gwendale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.64 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.325 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.16 degrees.