RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> York 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:
    • 39.974543, -76.618299
    • 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 York County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York County
    • Since Orchard Hill is near Lancaster County and also Dauphin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin 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 ...
    • Westmoreland County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Westmoreland County and lies 154 miles [247.8 km]<1> to the west of the Orchard Hill that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westmoreland County community of Orchard Hill.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Spalding County
      • This Orchard Hill is located in Spalding County and lies 629 miles [1,012.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in York 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 59 miles [95 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Orchard Hill that is located in York 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 308 miles [495.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in York 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 519 miles [835.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Hill that is located in York 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.

  • Chapel View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Chapel View is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel View
  • Fayfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fayfield is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayfield
  • Golden ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Golden is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Greystone Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Greystone Farms is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greystone Farms
  • Locust Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Locust Grove is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Locust Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Locust Spring is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Spring
  • Longstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Longstown is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longstown
  • Longview Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Longview Heights is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview Heights
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Panorama Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Panorama Hills is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Hills
    • Relay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Relay is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relay
    • Spring Plains
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Spring Plains is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Plains
    • Stoner
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Stoner is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoner
    • Woodstream
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Woodstream is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodstream
    • Yorkshire
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Yorkshire is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire

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:

  • York, which is the Seat of York County, lies just to the West.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Hill to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 77 miles [123.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,834 miles [9,388.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,543 miles [10,529.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,419 miles [7,111.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions 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 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 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 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 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: 39.9745, Longitude: -76.6183       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.566 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.238 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.111 degrees.