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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oriental, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oriental 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 Oriental:
    • 40.633418, -77.006091
    • 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 Oriental
  • 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 Juniata County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Juniata County
    • Since Oriental is near Snyder County and also Perry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Snyder County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perry 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 Oriental

Communities Also Named Oriental ...

We found six communities that are also named Oriental.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Oriental is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Glenn 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 California community of Oriental [Glenn County].
    • Nevada
      • Esmeralda County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Esmeralda County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Esmeralda County community of Oriental.
    • New Jersey
      • Burlington County
      • This Oriental is located in Burlington County and lies 132 miles [212.4 km]<3> to the east southeast of the Oriental that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burlington County community of Oriental.
    • New Mexico
      • Eddy County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Eddy County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eddy County community of Oriental.
    • North Carolina
      • Pamlico County
      • This Oriental is located in Pamlico County and lies 387 miles [622.8 km]<3> to the south of the Oriental that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pamlico County community of Oriental.
    • Oklahoma
      • Okfuskee County
      • This Oriental is located in Okfuskee County and lies 1,099 miles [1,768.7 km]<3> to the west southwest of the Oriental that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Okfuskee County community of Oriental.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oriental ...

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.

  • Centerville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Centerville is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Hickory Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Hickory Corners is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Corners
  • Independence
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Independence is located in Snyder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Liverpool
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Locust Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Locust Grove is located in Snyder County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Malta
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Malta is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malta
  • Mount Patrick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Patrick is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Patrick
  • Reservoir Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Reservoir Heights is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir Heights
  • Reward
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Reward is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reward
  • Seven Stars
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Seven Stars is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Stars
  • Stony Run
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Stony Run is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Run

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

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

  • Mifflintown, which is the Seat of Juniata County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<3> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Oriental to Mifflintown, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 25 miles [40.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 119 miles [191.5 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,823 miles [9,371.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,535 miles [10,517.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,410 miles [7,097.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Oriental 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Oriental, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oriental) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Oriental 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 Oriental. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6334, Longitude: -77.0061       In this case, the coordinates for Oriental have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.748 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.548 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.014 degrees.