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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Maria, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maria 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 Maria:
- 40.217512, -78.407056
- 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 Maria
- 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 Bedford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
- Since Maria is near Blair County and also Huntingdon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Blair County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Huntingdon 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 Maria
Communities Also Named Maria ...
We found four communities that are also named Maria.
Within Pennsylvania, the name Maria is unique.
Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, .
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- Leavenworth 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 Kansas community of Maria [Leavenworth County].
- Louisiana
- Saint Mary Parish
- This Maria is located in Saint Mary Parish and lies 1,030 miles [1,657.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the Maria that is located in Bedford County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Mary Parish community of Maria.
- Ontario
- 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 Ontario community of Maria.
- Quebec
- This Maria lies 823 miles [1,324.5 km]<2> to the northeast of the Maria that is located in Bedford County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Maria ...
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.
- Churchville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Churchville is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churchville
- Claysburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Cotton Town
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
- Cotton Town is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Town
- Curryville
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Curryville is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curryville
- Friesville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Friesville is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friesville
- Henrietta
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Henrietta is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Henrietta
- King
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Little Jack Corners
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Little Jack Corners is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Jack Corners
- Marble City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
- Marble City is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble City
- Martinsburg Junction
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Marysville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Marysville is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
- Musselman Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Musselman Grove is located in Blair County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Musselman Grove
- Continue List (5 more) ...
- New Enterprise
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Queen
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Queen is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen
- Stonerstown
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Stonerstown is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonerstown
- Texas Corner
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Texas Corner is located in Bedford County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Texas Corner
- Yellow Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Maria 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 Maria to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Maria and extending to:
- Bedford, which is the Seat of Bedford County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Maria to Bedford, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
- Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 116 miles [186.7 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 5,898 miles [9,491.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,612 miles [10,641 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,487 miles [7,221.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 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 Maria 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maria) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Maria 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 Maria. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2175, Longitude: -78.4071 In this case, the coordinates for Maria have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.627 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.479 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.798 degrees. |
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