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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hilliards, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hilliards 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 Hilliards:
    • 41.085895, -79.833386
    • 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 Hilliards
  • 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 Butler County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butler County
    • Since Hilliards is near Venango County and also Armstrong County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Venango County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Armstrong 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 Hilliards

Communities Also Named Hilliards ...

We found two communities that are also named Hilliards.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Hilliards is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Allegan County
      • This Hilliards is located in Allegan County and lies 322 miles [518.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Hilliards that is located in Butler County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegan County community of Hilliards.
      • Manistee 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 Michigan community of Hilliards [Manistee County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hilliards ...

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.

  • Annisville
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Annisville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Annisville
  • Bonus
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Bonus is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonus
  • Cherry Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cherry Valley is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 62 people
  • Eldorado
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Eldorado is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldorado
  • Ferris
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Ferris is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferris
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Points is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Hooker
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Hooker is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker
  • Parsonville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Parsonville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsonville
  • Peaceful Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Peaceful Valley is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peaceful Valley
  • Sandy Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Sandy Point is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Point
  • Whiskerville
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Whiskerville is located in Butler County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskerville

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

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

  • Butler, which is the Seat of Butler County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Hilliards to Butler, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 164 miles [263.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 211 miles [339.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,919 miles [9,525.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,639 miles [10,684.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,514 miles [7,264.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Hilliards) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Hilliards 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>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 Hilliards 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 Hilliards. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.0859, Longitude: -79.8334       In this case, the coordinates for Hilliards have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.451 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.548 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.112 degrees.