RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Allegheny County >> Laurel Gardens >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laurel Gardens, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurel Gardens 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 Laurel Gardens:
    • 40.527569, -80.025055
    • 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 Laurel Gardens
  • 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since Laurel Gardens is near Beaver County and also Butler County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Beaver County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butler 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 Laurel Gardens

Communities Also Named Laurel Gardens ...

We found one communities that are also named Laurel Gardens.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Laurel Gardens.

Beyond Pennsylvania.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Luzerne 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 Pennsylvania community of Laurel Gardens [Luzerne County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurel Gardens ...

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.

  • Cherry City
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cherry City is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry City
  • City View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • City View is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City View
  • Elfinwild
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Elfinwild is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elfinwild
  • Evergreen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Evergreen is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Fineview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Fineview is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fineview
  • Fox Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Fox Ridge is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Ridge
  • Highcliff
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Highcliff is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highcliff
  • Ivory Avenue
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Ivory Avenue is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivory Avenue
  • Marshall Shadeland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Marshall Shadeland is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Shadeland
  • Perrysville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Perrysville is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perrysville
  • Sample
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Sample is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sample
  • Spring Garden
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Spring Garden is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
  • Summer Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Summer Hill is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Hill
  • Woods Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Woods Run is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Run

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Laurel Gardens and extending to:

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 166 miles [267.2 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Laurel Gardens to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 194 miles [312.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,951 miles [9,577.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,669 miles [10,732.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,545 miles [7,314.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 Laurel Gardens 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Laurel Gardens) 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 Laurel Gardens 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 Laurel Gardens. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5276, Longitude: -80.0251       In this case, the coordinates for Laurel Gardens have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.60 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.632 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.406 degrees.