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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mineral Spring, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mineral Spring 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 Spring:
    • 39.903136, -78.999192
    • 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 Spring
  • 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 Somerset County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Since Mineral Spring is near Garrett County and also Bedford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garrett County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford 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 Spring

Communities Also Named Mineral Spring ...

We found six communities that are also named Mineral Spring.

There are two communities within Pennsylvania that are also named Mineral Spring.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Butler County
      • This Mineral Spring is located in Butler County and lies 70 miles [112.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mineral Spring that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Mineral Spring.
    • Clearfield County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Mineral Spring [Clearfield County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Garrett County
      • This Mineral Spring is located in Garrett County and lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Mineral Spring that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Garrett County community of Mineral Spring.
    • Missouri
      • Barry County
      • This Mineral Spring is located in Barry County and lies 830 miles [1,335.8 km]<1> to the west of the Mineral Spring that is located in Somerset County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barry County community of Mineral Spring.
    • North Carolina
      • Lincoln County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Mineral Spring [Lincoln County].
      • Pender County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Mineral Spring [Pender County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mineral Spring ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Goodtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Goodtown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodtown
  • Hays Mill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hays Mill is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays Mill
  • Keystone
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Keystone is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Romania
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Romania is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romania
  • Salisbury Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Salisbury Junction is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salisbury Junction
  • Sand Patch
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sand Patch is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Patch
  • Shaft
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Shaft is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaft
  • Shamrock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Shamrock is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Slabtown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Slabtown is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
  • Summit Mills
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Summit Mills is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Mills

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

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

  • Somerset, which is the Seat of Somerset County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Mineral Spring to Harrisburg, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 125 miles [201.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,936 miles [9,553.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,650 miles [10,702.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,526 miles [7,283.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Mineral Spring) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Spring 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.
<3>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 Spring, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Spring 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 Spring. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9031, Longitude: -78.9992       In this case, the coordinates for Mineral Spring have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.005 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.86 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.178 degrees.