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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hecktown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hecktown 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 Hecktown:
    • 40.693153, -75.334902
    • 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 Hecktown
  • 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 Northampton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northampton County
    • Since Hecktown is near Lehigh County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lehigh County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Hecktown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hecktown ...

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.

  • Bath
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bath is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bath
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,756 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bath <1>
  • Butztown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
  • Cherry Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • Chickentown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Chickentown is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chickentown
  • Christian Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Christian Springs is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Christian Springs
  • Clyde
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Clyde is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Farmersville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Farmersville is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmersville
  • Franks Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Franks Corner is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franks Corner
  • Freemansburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Georgetown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Georgetown is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
    • Lime Ridge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Lime Ridge is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime Ridge
    • Lincoln Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Lincoln Park is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
    • Mount Hope
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Mount Hope is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
    • Smoketown
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Smoketown is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Smoketown
    • Steel City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Steel City is located in Northampton County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steel City

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

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

  • Easton, which is the Seat of Northampton County, lies just to the East.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Hecktown to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 153 miles [246.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,750 miles [9,253.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,459 miles [10,394.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,335 miles [6,976.5 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Hecktown) 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 Hecktown 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 Hecktown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6932, Longitude: -75.3349       In this case, the coordinates for Hecktown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.737 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.413 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.252 degrees.