RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Montgomery County >> Orchard Courts >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Courts, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Courts 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 Orchard Courts:
    • 40.183436, -75.521296
    • 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 Orchard Courts
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Orchard Courts is near Chester County and also Erie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie 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 Orchard Courts

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Courts ...

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.

  • Chestnut Pointe
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Chestnut Pointe is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Pointe
  • Fords Edge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Fords Edge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fords Edge
  • Heather View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Heather View is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather View
  • Mingo
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Mingo is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingo
  • Pennypacker Road
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Pennypacker Road is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pennypacker Road
  • Providence Forge
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Providence Forge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Forge
  • Providence Knoll
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Providence Knoll is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Knoll
  • Providence Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Providence Ridge is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence Ridge
  • Rivers Bend
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Rivers Bend is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rivers Bend
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Riverwalk
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Riverwalk is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwalk
    • Spring City
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Sugar Hill Farms
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Sugar Hill Farms is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hill Farms
    • Walnut Crossing
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Walnut Crossing is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Crossing
    • Walnut Farms
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Walnut Farms is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Farms
    • Winding River
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Winding River is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winding River

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Courts to Norristown, with an average speed<3> 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 72 miles [115.9 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 119 miles [191.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,779 miles [9,300.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,486 miles [10,438.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,363 miles [7,021.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Orchard Courts) 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 Orchard Courts 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 Orchard Courts. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1834, Longitude: -75.5213       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Courts have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.895 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.511 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.55 degrees.