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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mahoning, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mahoning 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 Mahoning:
    • 39.973686, -79.625317
    • 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 Mahoning
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Mahoning is near Westmoreland County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Mahoning

Communities Also Named Mahoning ...

We found five communities that are also named Mahoning.

There are two communities within Pennsylvania that are also named Mahoning.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Armstrong County
      • This Mahoning is located in Armstrong County and lies 66 miles [106.2 km]<1> to the north of the Mahoning that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Armstrong County community of Mahoning.
    • Carbon 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 Pennsylvania community of Mahoning [Carbon County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Lake 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 Indiana community of Mahoning [Lake County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Mahoning is located in Saint Louis County and lies 840 miles [1,351.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mahoning that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Mahoning.
    • Ohio
      • Portage County
      • This Mahoning is located in Portage County and lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mahoning that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portage County community of Mahoning.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mahoning ...

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.

  • Factory Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Factory Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Factory Hill
  • Furnace Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Furnace Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furnace Hill
  • Graham Crossing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Graham Crossing is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Crossing
  • Hardy Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Hardy Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy Hill
  • Irishtown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Irishtown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Irishtown
  • Little Summit
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Summit is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Summit
  • Monarch
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Monarch is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
  • Mount Independence
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Independence is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Independence
  • Reservoir Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Reservoir Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir Hill
  • Rogerstown
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Rogerstown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogerstown
  • Trotter
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Trotter is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotter

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

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

  • Uniontown, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 146 miles [235 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Mahoning to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 156 miles [251.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,959 miles [9,590.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,674 miles [10,740.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,550 miles [7,322.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Mahoning) 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 Mahoning 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>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 Mahoning 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 Mahoning. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9737, Longitude: -79.6253       In this case, the coordinates for Mahoning have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.383 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.30 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.429 degrees.