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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McSparran, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McSparran 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 McSparran:
    • 39.765163, -76.207924
    • 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 McSparran
  • 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 McSparran is near Cecil County and also York County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York 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 McSparran

Curious and Interesting Names Near McSparran ...

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.

  • Bald Friar ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Chestnut Level
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Chestnut Level is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Level
  • Five Points ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Jenkins Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jenkins Corner is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Corner
  • Kirks Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Little Britain
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • New Texas
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • New Texas is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Oak Shade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak Shade is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shade
  • Peach Bottom
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Pilot
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Pilot is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot
  • Pleasant Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...

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

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

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from McSparran to Lancaster, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 74 miles [119.1 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,826 miles [9,376 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,533 miles [10,513.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,409 miles [7,095.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 from Point A (ie- McSparran) 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 McSparran 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 McSparran. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7652, Longitude: -76.2079       In this case, the coordinates for McSparran have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.338 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.947 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.019 degrees.