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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laros, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laros and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Laros:
    • 40.571207, -75.650467
    • 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 Laros
  • 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 Lehigh County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lehigh County
    • Since Laros is near Berks County and also Northampton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Berks County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northampton 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 Laros

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laros ...

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.

  • Ancient Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Ancient Oaks is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ancient Oaks
  • Claussville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Claussville is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claussville
  • Crackersport
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Crackersport is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crackersport
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Points is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Hillside
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillside is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
  • Krocksville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Krocksville is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Krocksville
  • Leather Corner Post
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Leather Corner Post is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leather Corner Post
  • Longsdale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Longsdale is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longsdale
  • Longswamp
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Longswamp is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longswamp
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lower Longswamp
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Lower Longswamp is located in Berks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Longswamp
    • Lyon Valley
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Lyon Valley is located in Lehigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyon Valley
    • Maple Grove
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Maple Grove is located in Berks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
    • Ringtown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Ringtown is located in Berks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ringtown
    • Shamrock Station
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Shamrock Station is located in Berks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock Station
    • Spring Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Spring Creek is located in Lehigh County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Laros once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Laros and extending to:

  • Allentown, which is the Seat of Lehigh County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Laros to Allentown, 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 67 miles [107.8 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 136 miles [218.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5,769 miles [9,284.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,478 miles [10,425.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,354 miles [7,007.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 Laros, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Laros) 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 Laros 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 Laros. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5712, Longitude: -75.6505       In this case, the coordinates for Laros have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.937 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.62 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.443 degrees.