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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Halfville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Halfville 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 Halfville:
    • 40.188427, -76.325235
    • 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 Halfville
  • 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 Halfville is near Lebanon County and also Bedford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lebanon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford 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 Halfville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Halfville ...

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.

  • Brickerville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Clay
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Clay is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay
  • Dogtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Dogtown is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
  • Elm
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Elm is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm
  • Fruitville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Fruitville is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruitville
  • Hopeland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hopeland is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopeland
  • Johnstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Johnstown is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnstown
  • Limerock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Limerock is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limerock
  • Lincoln
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Lincoln is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
  • Mechanicsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Miners Village
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Miners Village is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miners Village
  • Moonstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Moonstown is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moonstown
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Mount Hope
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Mount Hope is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
    • Poplar Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Poplar Grove is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
    • Speedwell
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Speedwell is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speedwell
    • Sporting Hill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Sporting Hill is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sporting Hill
    • Springhaven
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Springhaven is located in Lebanon County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springhaven

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Halfville and extending to:

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Halfville to Lancaster, with an average speed<3> 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 30 miles [48.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 96 miles [154.5 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 three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,813 miles [9,355.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,522 miles [10,496.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,398 miles [7,077.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 from Point A (ie- Halfville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Halfville 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 Halfville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1884, Longitude: -76.3252       In this case, the coordinates for Halfville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.374 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.054 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.897 degrees.