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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Hill 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 Hill:
    • 40.147016, -79.528372
    • 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 Hill
  • 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 Westmoreland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Since Orchard Hill is near Fayette County and also Allegheny County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny 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 Hill

Communities Also Named Orchard Hill ...

We found six communities that are also named Orchard Hill.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Orchard Hill.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • York County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in York County and lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<1> to the east of the Orchard Hill that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the York County community of Orchard Hill.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Spalding County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Spalding County and lies 546 miles [878.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spalding County community of Orchard Hill.
    • Maryland
      • Kent County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Kent County and lies 193 miles [310.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Orchard Hill that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Orchard Hill.
    • Michigan
      • Alpena 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 Michigan community of Orchard Hill [Alpena County].
    • Ohio
      • Gallia County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Gallia County and lies 170 miles [273.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gallia County community of Orchard Hill.
    • South Carolina
      • Dorchester County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Dorchester County and lies 493 miles [793.4 km]<1> to the south of the Orchard Hill that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dorchester County community of Orchard Hill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Hill ...

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.

  • Alice
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Alice is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Bear Rocks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Bear Rocks is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Rocks
  • Buckeye
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Buckeye is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Carpentertown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Carpentertown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpentertown
  • Central
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Central is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Hawkeye
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hawkeye is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawkeye
  • Iron Bridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Iron Bridge is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Bridge
  • Morewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Morewood is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morewood
  • Mount Joy
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Mount Joy is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Joy
  • Mount Pleasant
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Ridge View
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Ridge View is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge View
  • Rocktown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocktown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocktown
  • Standard
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Standard is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standard
  • Standard Shaft
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Standard Shaft is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standard Shaft

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

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

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Westmoreland County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Hill to Greensburg, with an average speed<4> 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 139 miles [223.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 158 miles [254.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,947 miles [9,570.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,663 miles [10,723.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,539 miles [7,304.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Orchard Hill) 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 Orchard Hill 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>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 Orchard Hill 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 Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1470, Longitude: -79.5284       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.315 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.249 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.322 degrees.