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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hummelstown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hummelstown 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 Hummelstown:
    • 40.264812, -76.709692
    • 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 Hummelstown
  • 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 Dauphin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin County
    • Since Hummelstown is near Lebanon County and also Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Hummelstown

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hummelstown ...

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.

  • Chartwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Chartwood is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chartwood
  • Chestnut Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Chestnut Hill is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Hill
  • Ebenezer
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ebenezer is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebenezer
  • English Manor
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • English Manor is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Manor
  • Hershey
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • High Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • High Ridge is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Ridge
  • Hillymeade
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillymeade is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillymeade
  • Hockersville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Hockersville is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hockersville
  • Kent Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Kent Gardens is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Gardens
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Locust Lane Gardens
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Locust Lane Gardens is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Lane Gardens
    • Pleasant View
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Pleasant View is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
    • Sand Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Sand Beach is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Beach
    • Sandhill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Sandhill is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandhill
    • Twin Lakes Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Twin Lakes Park is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes Park
    • Union Deposit
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Union Deposit is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Deposit

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

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

  • Harrisburg, which is the Seat of Dauphin County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Hummelstown to Harrisburg, 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 9 miles [14.5 km] to the west (W). The buggy would take a little over three hours and walking would take four to five hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 95 miles [152.9 km] to the south (S). 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 5,826 miles [9,376 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,536 miles [10,518.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,412 miles [7,100.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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- Hummelstown) 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 Hummelstown 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 Hummelstown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2648, Longitude: -76.7097       In this case, the coordinates for Hummelstown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.598 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.321 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.033 degrees.