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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Irishtown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Irishtown 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 Irishtown:
    • 39.947020, -79.602262
    • 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 Irishtown
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Irishtown is near Westmoreland County and also Somerset County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset 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 Irishtown

Communities Also Named Irishtown ...

We found ten communities that are also named Irishtown.

There are five communities within Pennsylvania that are also named Irishtown.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, seven are located in the United States and five are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Adams County
      • This Irishtown is located in Adams County and lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<1> to the east of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Irishtown.
    • Clearfield County
      • This Irishtown is located in Clearfield County and lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clearfield County community of Irishtown.
    • Lancaster County
      • This Irishtown is located in Lancaster County and lies 182 miles [292.9 km]<1> to the east of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Irishtown.
    • McKean County
      • This Irishtown is located in McKean County and lies 137 miles [220.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McKean County community of Irishtown.
    • Mercer County
      • This Irishtown is located in Mercer County and lies 91 miles [146.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Irishtown.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Amador County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Irishtown [Amador County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Irishtown lies 861 miles [1,385.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
    • New York
      • Essex County
      • This Irishtown is located in Essex County and lies 394 miles [634.1 km]<1> to the northeast of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Essex County community of Irishtown.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Newfoundland and Labrador community of Irishtown.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This Irishtown lies 921 miles [1,482.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Irishtown that is located in Fayette County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Irishtown ...

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.

  • Coolspring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Coolspring is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coolspring
  • Elm Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Elm Grove is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
  • Evans
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Evans is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
  • Factory Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Factory Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Factory Hill
  • Furnace Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Furnace Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Hill
  • Graham Crossing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Graham Crossing is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Crossing
  • Hardy Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hardy Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy Hill
  • Indian Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Indian Creek is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
  • Little Summit
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Summit is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Summit
  • Monarch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Monarch is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
  • Mount Independence
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Independence is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Independence
  • Reservoir Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Reservoir Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir Hill
  • Rogerstown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Rogerstown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogerstown
  • Trotter
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Trotter is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotter

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

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

  • Uniontown, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Irishtown to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 154 miles [247.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,959 miles [9,590.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,675 miles [10,742.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,550 miles [7,322.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Irishtown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Irishtown, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Irishtown 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.
<4>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.
<5>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 Irishtown 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 Irishtown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9470, Longitude: -79.6023       In this case, the coordinates for Irishtown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.37 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.282 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.428 degrees.