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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lansdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lansdale 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 Lansdale:
    • 40.241569, -75.283706
    • 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 Lansdale
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Lansdale is near Bucks County and also Indiana County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bucks County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Indiana 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 Lansdale

Communities Also Named Lansdale ...

We found two communities that are also named Lansdale.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Lansdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Marin County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Lansdale [Marin County].
    • Virginia
      • Norfolk City
      • This Lansdale is located in Norfolk City and lies 237 miles [381.4 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Lansdale that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk City community of Lansdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lansdale ...

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.

  • Acorn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Acorn is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acorn
  • Bramble Gate
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Bramble Gate is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bramble Gate
  • Clover Crest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Clover Crest is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Crest
  • Cowpath Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Cowpath Village is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowpath Village
  • Cross Gate
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Cross Gate is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Gate
  • Gristmill Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Gristmill Run is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gristmill Run
  • Heather Knoll
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Heather Knoll is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Knoll
  • Helen Marie Court
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Helen Marie Court is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helen Marie Court
  • Hunter Villa
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hunter Villa is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Villa
  • Imperial Arms
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Imperial Arms is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Imperial Arms
  • Little Farm Trace Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Merrybrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Merrybrook is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrybrook
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Parsons Glen
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Parsons Glen is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parsons Glen
    • Sugarvalley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Sugarvalley is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarvalley
    • Unionville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Unionville is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionville
    • Winners Circle
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Winners Circle is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winners Circle
    • Yorkshire Commons
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Yorkshire Commons is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire Commons

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Lansdale to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>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 131 miles [210.8 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,767 miles [9,281.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,474 miles [10,418.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,350 miles [7,000.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Lansdale 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lansdale) 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 Lansdale 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 Lansdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2416, Longitude: -75.2837    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.748 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.354 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.423 degrees.