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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McKnight, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McKnight 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 McKnight:
    • 40.555068, -80.036445
    • 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 McKnight
  • 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 McKnight is near Butler County and also Beaver County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butler County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Beaver 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 McKnight

Communities Also Named McKnight ...

We found five communities that are also named McKnight.

Within Pennsylvania, the name McKnight is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Columbia 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 Arkansas community of McKnight [Columbia County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Harmon County
      • This McKnight is located in Harmon County and lies 1,154 miles [1,857.2 km]<2> to the west southwest of the McKnight that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harmon County community of McKnight.
    • Tennessee
      • Maury County
      • This McKnight is located in Maury County and lies 506 miles [814.3 km]<2> to the southwest of the McKnight that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Maury County community of McKnight.
    • Texas
      • Donley County
      • This McKnight is located in Donley County and lies 1,183 miles [1,903.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the McKnight that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Donley County community of McKnight.
      • Rusk County
      • This McKnight is located in Rusk County and lies 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km] to the west southwest of the McKnight that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rusk County community of McKnight.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McKnight ...

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
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cherry City is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry City
  • City View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • City View is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City View
  • Elfinwild
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Elfinwild is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elfinwild
  • Evergreen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Evergreen is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Fox Ridge
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Fox Ridge is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Ridge
  • Hardy
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hardy is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
  • Highcliff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Highcliff is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highcliff
  • Ivory Avenue
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Ivory Avenue is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivory Avenue
  • Laurel Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Laurel Gardens is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Laurel Gardens
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Marshall Shadeland
      (5 miles [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 south)
      • Perrysville is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perrysville
    • Sample
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Sample is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sample
    • Summer Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Summer Hill is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer Hill
    • Wildwood
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Woods Run
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Woods Run is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Run

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McKnight 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 McKnight to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>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 196 miles [315.4 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,950 miles [9,575.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,669 miles [10,732.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,544 miles [7,312.9 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 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 McKnight 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McKnight) 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 McKnight 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 McKnight. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5551, Longitude: -80.0364       In this case, the coordinates for McKnight have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.606 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.642 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.401 degrees.