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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Knickerbocker, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Knickerbocker 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 Knickerbocker:
    • 40.042607, -75.503810
    • 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 Knickerbocker
  • 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 Chester County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester County
    • Since Knickerbocker is near Erie County and also Delaware County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Delaware 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 Knickerbocker

Communities Also Named Knickerbocker ...

We found four communities that are also named Knickerbocker.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Knickerbocker is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nevada
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Knickerbocker [Nye County].
    • New York
      • New York 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 New York community of Knickerbocker [New York County].
    • Texas
      • Tom Green County
      • This Knickerbocker is located in Tom Green County and lies 1,527 miles [2,457.5 km]<3> to the west southwest of the Knickerbocker that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tom Green County community of Knickerbocker.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of Knickerbocker [Kanawha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Knickerbocker ...

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.

  • Bow Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Bow Tree is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bow Tree
  • Cedar Hollow
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Hollow is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hollow
  • Freedom View
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Freedom View is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom View
  • Glen Craig
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Glen Craig is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Craig
  • Grand Oak Run
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Grand Oak Run is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Oak Run
  • Green Tree
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Green Tree is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Tree
  • Hershey Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hershey Mill is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hershey Mill
  • Hollow Run Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hollow Run Farms is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollow Run Farms
  • Hunt Country
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hunt Country is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt Country
  • Lees
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Lees is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees
  • Leopard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Leopard is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leopard
  • Leopard Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Leopard Farms is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leopard Farms
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Leopard Lakes
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Leopard Lakes is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leopard Lakes
    • Planebrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Planebrook is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Planebrook
    • Rocky Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Rocky Hill is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Hill
    • Ronnie Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Ronnie Park is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ronnie Park
    • Sugartown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Sugartown is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugartown
    • Sunwood Farm
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Sunwood Farm is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunwood Farm
    • Trinity House
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Trinity House is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trinity House
    • Whitehorse
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Whitehorse is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitehorse
    • Williams Corner
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Williams Corner is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williams Corner

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

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

  • West Chester, which is the Seat of Chester County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<3> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Knickerbocker to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>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 113 miles [181.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,784 miles [9,308.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,491 miles [10,446.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,367 miles [7,028 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Knickerbocker, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Knickerbocker 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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Knickerbocker) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Knickerbocker 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 Knickerbocker. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0426, Longitude: -75.5038       In this case, the coordinates for Knickerbocker have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.897 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.491 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.602 degrees.