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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nanticoke, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nanticoke 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 Nanticoke:
    • 41.199927, -76.000502
    • 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 Nanticoke
  • 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 Luzerne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Luzerne County
    • Since Nanticoke is near Wyoming County and also Columbia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia 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 Nanticoke

Communities Also Named Nanticoke ...

We found four communities that are also named Nanticoke.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Nanticoke is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Sussex 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 Delaware community of Nanticoke [Sussex County].
    • Maryland
      • Wicomico County
      • This Nanticoke is located in Wicomico County and lies 202 miles [325.1 km]<2> to the south of the Nanticoke that is located in Luzerne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wicomico County community of Nanticoke.
    • New York
      • Broome County
      • This Nanticoke is located in Broome County and lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<2> to the north of the Nanticoke that is located in Luzerne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broome County community of Nanticoke.
    • Ontario
      • This Nanticoke lies 236 miles [379.8 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Nanticoke that is located in Luzerne County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nanticoke ...

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.

  • Buttonwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Buttonwood is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttonwood
  • Curry Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Curry Hill is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry Hill
  • Dundee
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Dundee is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundee
  • Gregory
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Gregory is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
  • Hughs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hughs is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughs
  • Larksville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Lee
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Lee Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Lee Park is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Park
  • Plymouth
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Rule Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rule Corners is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rule Corners
  • Stairville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stairville is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stairville
  • Sugar Notch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Sugar Notch is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Notch
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 959 people
  • Warrior Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Warrior Run is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrior Run
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 550 people

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

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

  • Wilkes-Barre, which is the Seat of Luzerne County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Nanticoke to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 168 miles [270.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,757 miles [9,265 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,470 miles [10,412.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,345 miles [6,992.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 Nanticoke 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Nanticoke) 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 Nanticoke 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 Nanticoke. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1999, Longitude: -76.0005    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.091 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.894 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.33 degrees.