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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Heaton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Heaton 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 Heaton:
    • 40.156776, -75.106284
    • 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 Heaton
  • 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 Heaton is near Bucks County and also Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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 Heaton

Communities Also Named Heaton ...

We found seven communities that are also named Heaton.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Heaton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arizona
      • Pinal County
      • This Heaton is located in Pinal County and lies 2,093 miles [3,368.4 km]<1> to the west of the Heaton that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pinal County community of Heaton.
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion County
      • This Heaton is located in Vermilion County and lies 657 miles [1,057.3 km]<1> to the west of the Heaton that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vermilion County community of Heaton.
    • Indiana
      • Greene County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Heaton [Greene County].
    • New Mexico
      • McKinley County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Heaton [McKinley County].
    • North Carolina
      • Avery County
      • This Heaton is located in Avery County and lies 461 miles [741.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Heaton that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Avery County community of Heaton.
    • North Dakota
      • Wells County
      • This Heaton is located in Wells County and lies 1,311 miles [2,109.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Heaton that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wells County community of Heaton.
    • Texas
      • Gray County
      • This Heaton is located in Gray County and lies 1,431 miles [2,303 km]<1> to the west of the Heaton that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gray County community of Heaton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Heaton ...

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.

  • Carpenters Way
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Carpenters Way is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenters Way
  • County Line
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • County Line is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
  • Dublin Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dublin Crossing is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin Crossing
  • Fairoaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Fairoaks is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairoaks
  • Hillside ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hillside is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
  • Jamestown Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jamestown Village is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown Village
  • Johnsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Johnsville is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
  • Lacey Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lacey Park is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Park
  • Meadowbrook
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadowbrook is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowbrook
  • Meetinghouse Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Meetinghouse Village is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meetinghouse Village
  • Mill Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Mill Run is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
  • Noble
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Noble is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Noble
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Paper Mills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Paper Mills is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paper Mills
    • Pheasant Knoll
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Pheasant Knoll is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Knoll
    • Robert Bruce
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Robert Bruce is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robert Bruce
    • Saw Mill Valley
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Saw Mill Valley is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saw Mill Valley
    • Shoemaker Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Shoemaker Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoemaker Village
    • Willow Grove
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Heaton to Norristown, 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 93 miles [149.7 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 134 miles [215.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,763 miles [9,274.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,469 miles [10,410.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,346 miles [6,994.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Heaton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Heaton 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.
<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 Heaton, 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 Heaton 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 Heaton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1568, Longitude: -75.1063       In this case, the coordinates for Heaton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.651 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.23 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.383 degrees.