RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Montgomery County >> The Heathers >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in The Heathers, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Heathers 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 The Heathers:
    • 40.274600, -75.392300
    • 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 The Heathers
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since The Heathers is near Bucks County and also Chester County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bucks County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester 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 The Heathers

Curious and Interesting Names Near The Heathers ...

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.

  • Cedars
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Creamery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Cross Gate
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cross Gate is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Gate
  • Delphi
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Delphi is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delphi
  • Fox Heath
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Heath is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Heath
  • Gristmill Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Gristmill Run is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gristmill Run
  • Harley Glen
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Harley Glen is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harley Glen
  • Harleysville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Harmony Towne
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Harmony Towne is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Towne
  • Hunter Crest
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hunter Crest is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Crest
  • Hunter Villa
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hunter Villa is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Villa
  • Hunters Greene
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunters Greene is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Greene
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Kingscote
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Kingscote is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingscote
    • Mainland
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Mainland is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mainland
    • Pear Tree Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Pear Tree Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pear Tree Village
    • Reliance
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Reliance is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reliance
    • Shirks Corner
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Shirks Corner is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shirks Corner
    • Summerwind
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Summerwind is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerwind

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from The Heathers to Norristown, 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 78 miles [125.5 km] to the west (W). 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 129 miles [207.6 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,770 miles [9,285.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,477 miles [10,423.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,354 miles [7,007.1 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- The Heathers) 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 The Heathers 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 The Heathers. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2746, Longitude: -75.3923       In this case, the coordinates for The Heathers have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.81 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.429 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.456 degrees.