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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oreville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oreville 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 Oreville:
    • 40.518706, -75.689913
    • 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 Oreville
  • 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 Berks County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Berks County
    • Since Oreville is near Lehigh County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lehigh County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery 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 Oreville

Communities Also Named Oreville ...

We found four communities that are also named Oreville.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Oreville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Polk 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 Georgia community of Oreville [Polk County].
    • Ohio
      • Hocking County
      • This Oreville is located in Hocking County and lies 353 miles [568.1 km]<2> to the west of the Oreville that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hocking County community of Oreville.
    • South Dakota
      • Pennington County
      • This Oreville is located in Pennington County and lies 1,440 miles [2,317.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Oreville that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pennington County community of Oreville.
    • Virginia
      • Rockbridge 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 Virginia community of Oreville [Rockbridge County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oreville ...

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.

  • Bowers
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Eagle Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Eagle Point is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Point
  • Five Points
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Five Points is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Longsdale
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Longsdale is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longsdale
  • Longswamp
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Longswamp is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longswamp
  • Lower Longswamp
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lower Longswamp is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Longswamp
  • Lyon Station
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Lyon Station is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyon Station
  • Maple Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Maple Grove is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Red Lion
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Red Lion is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lion
  • Ringtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Ringtown is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ringtown
  • Sally Ann ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Sally Ann is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sally Ann
  • Shamrock Station
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Shamrock Station is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock Station
  • Spring Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Spring Creek is located in Lehigh County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Creek

How Far From Oreville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Oreville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Reading, which is the Seat of Berks County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Oreville to Reading, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 64 miles [103 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 132 miles [212.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,773 miles [9,290.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,481 miles [10,430.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,357 miles [7,011.9 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 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 Oreville 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- Oreville) 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 Oreville 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 Oreville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5187, Longitude: -75.6899       In this case, the coordinates for Oreville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.966 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.644 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.482 degrees.