RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Cambria County >> Mineral Point >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mineral Point, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mineral Point 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 Mineral Point:
    • 40.379780, -78.836245
    • 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 Mineral Point
  • 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 Cambria County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cambria County
    • Since Mineral Point is near Indiana County and also Somerset County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Indiana County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset 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 Mineral Point

Communities Also Named Mineral Point ...

We found seven communities that are also named Mineral Point.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Mineral Point is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • San Juan 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 Colorado community of Mineral Point [San Juan County].
      • Weld County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Weld County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weld County community of Mineral Point.
    • Missouri
      • Washington County
      • This Mineral Point is located in Washington County and lies 657 miles [1,057.3 km]<3> to the west of the Mineral Point that is located in Cambria County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Mineral Point.
    • Ohio
      • Tuscarawas 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 Ohio community of Mineral Point [Tuscarawas County].
    • West Virginia
      • Harrison 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 West Virginia community of Mineral Point [Harrison County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Green County
      • This Mineral Point is located in Green County and lies 572 miles [920.5 km]<3> to the west northwest of the Mineral Point that is located in Cambria County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Green County community of Mineral Point.
      • Iowa County
      • This Mineral Point is located in Iowa County and lies 609 miles [980.1 km] to the west northwest of the Mineral Point that is located in Cambria County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iowa County community of Mineral Point.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mineral Point ...

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.

  • Cassandra
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cassandra is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cassandra
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 132 people
  • Cover Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cover Hill is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cover Hill
  • Echo
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Echo is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
  • Fishertown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Fishertown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishertown
  • Franklin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Franklin is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 289 people
  • Goods Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Goods Corner is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goods Corner
  • New Germany
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • New Germany is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Germany
  • Parkhill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Parkhill is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkhill
  • Parkstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Parkstown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkstown
  • Pleasant Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Rockville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rockville is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
  • Summerhill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)

How Far From Mineral Point to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mineral Point to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Ebensburg, which is the Seat of Cambria County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<3> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mineral Point to Ebensburg, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 103 miles [165.8 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 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 140 miles [225.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,909 miles [9,509.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,624 miles [10,660.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,500 miles [7,242 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Mineral Point 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Mineral Point, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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- Mineral Point) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Mineral Point 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 Mineral Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3798, Longitude: -78.8362    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.878 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.79 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.927 degrees.