RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Adams County >> Iron Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Iron Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iron Springs 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 Iron Springs:
    • 39.775650, -77.396654
    • 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 Iron Springs
  • 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 Adams County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Since Iron Springs is near Frederick County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Frederick County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Iron Springs

Communities Also Named Iron Springs ...

We found nine communities that are also named Iron Springs.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Iron Springs is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Iron Springs lies 1,843 miles [2,966 km]<1> to the northwest of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
    • Arizona
      • Yavapai County
      • This Iron Springs is located in Yavapai County and lies 1,955 miles [3,146.3 km]<1> to the west of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yavapai County community of Iron Springs.
    • Arkansas
      • Nevada County
      • This Iron Springs is located in Nevada County and lies 972 miles [1,564.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nevada County community of Iron Springs.
      • Pulaski County
      • This Iron Springs is located in Pulaski County and lies 894 miles [1,438.8 km] to the west southwest of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Iron Springs.
    • Colorado
      • Otero 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 Colorado community of Iron Springs [Otero County].
      • San Miguel County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in San Miguel County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Miguel County community of Iron Springs.
    • Idaho
      • Iron Springs #
      • This community is historic<3> and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Iron Springs.
    • Utah
      • Iron County
      • This Iron Springs is located in Iron County and lies 1,921 miles [3,091.5 km]<1> to the west of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iron County community of Iron Springs.
    • Washington
      • Grays Harbor County
      • This Iron Springs is located in Grays Harbor County and lies 2,362 miles [3,801.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Iron Springs that is located in Adams County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grays Harbor County community of Iron Springs.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Iron Springs ...

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.

  • Fountain Dale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fountain Dale is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fountain Dale
  • Friends Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Friends Creek is located in Frederick County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friends Creek
  • Gladhill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gladhill is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gladhill
  • Jacks Mountain
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Jacks Mountain is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Mountain
  • Lost Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lost Valley is located in Frederick County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Valley
  • Maria Furnace
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Maria Furnace is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maria Furnace
  • Marshall
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Marshall is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall
  • Mount Hope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Hope is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Hope
  • Shanks Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Shanks Mill is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanks Mill
  • Tartown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Tartown is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tartown
  • Virginia Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Virginia Mills is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Mills

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

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

  • Gettysburg, which is the Seat of Adams County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Iron Springs to Gettysburg, with an average speed<4> 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 44 miles [70.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 63 miles [101.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,875 miles [9,454.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,585 miles [10,597.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,461 miles [7,179.3 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- Iron Springs) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Iron Springs 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 Iron Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Iron Springs 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 Iron Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7756, Longitude: -77.3967       In this case, the coordinates for Iron Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.046 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.752 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.527 degrees.