RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Mastersonville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mastersonville 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 Mastersonville:
    • 40.196958, -76.487103
    • 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 Mastersonville
  • 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 Lancaster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Since Mastersonville is near Lebanon County and also Dauphin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lebanon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin 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 Mastersonville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mastersonville ...

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.

  • Anchor
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Anchor is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchor
  • Anthracite
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Anthracite is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anthracite
  • Beverly
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Beverly is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • Cornwall
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Cornwall Center
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cornwall Center is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall Center
  • Cornwall Furnace
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cornwall Furnace is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall Furnace
  • Donegal Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Donegal Heights is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donegal Heights
  • Donegal Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Donegal Springs is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donegal Springs
  • Elizabethtown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Elm
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Lawn
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Mechanicsville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Mechanicsville is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...

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

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

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mastersonville to Lancaster, with an average speed<3> 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 four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 21 miles [33.8 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 94 miles [151.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,819 miles [9,364.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,529 miles [10,507.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,405 miles [7,089.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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- Mastersonville) 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 Mastersonville 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 Mastersonville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1970, Longitude: -76.4871    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.47 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.165 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.963 degrees.