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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McMurray, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McMurray 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 McMurray:
    • 40.277848, -80.083943
    • 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 McMurray
  • 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since McMurray is near Allegheny County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland 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 McMurray

Communities Also Named McMurray ...

We found two communities that are also named McMurray.

Within Pennsylvania, the name McMurray is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Texas
      • Taylor 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 Texas community of McMurray [Taylor County].
    • Washington
      • Skagit County
      • This McMurray is located in Skagit County and lies 2,126 miles [3,421.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the McMurray that is located in Washington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Skagit County community of McMurray.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McMurray ...

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.

  • Bishop
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Bishop is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop
  • Cecil
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Cokeburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cokeburg is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokeburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 603 people
  • Cool Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Cool Valley is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool Valley
  • Curry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Curry is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry
  • Experiment
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Experiment is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Experiment
  • Gambles
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gambles is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gambles
  • Gill Hall
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Gill Hall is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gill Hall
  • Hill Church
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hill Church is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill Church
  • Hillcrest
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillcrest is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Jewell
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jewell is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
  • Library
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Library Junction
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Library Junction is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Library Junction
    • Longview
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Longview is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
    • Muse
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Muse is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muse
    • Muse Junction
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Muse Junction is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muse Junction
    • National Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • National Hill is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for National Hill
    • Pierce
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Pierce is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierce
    • Piney Fork
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Piney Fork is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Fork
    • Presto
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Turkeyfoot
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Turkeyfoot is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkeyfoot
    • Weavertown
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Weavertown is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weavertown

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

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

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McMurray to Washington, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 168 miles [270.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 188 miles [302.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,964 miles [9,598.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,682 miles [10,753.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,557 miles [7,333.8 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 McMurray 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- McMurray) 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 McMurray 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 McMurray. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2778, Longitude: -80.0839       In this case, the coordinates for McMurray have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.649 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.649 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.523 degrees.