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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Osburn, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Osburn and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Osburn:
    • 40.296737, -79.363091
    • 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 Osburn
  • 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 Osburn is near Indiana County and also Fayette County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Indiana County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette 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 Osburn

Communities Also Named Osburn ...

We found three communities that are also named Osburn.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Osburn is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Shoshone County
      • This Osburn is located in Shoshone County and lies 1,870 miles [3,009.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Osburn that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shoshone County community of Osburn.
    • Louisiana
      • Rapides Parish
      • This Osburn is located in Rapides Parish and lies 987 miles [1,588.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Osburn that is located in Westmoreland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rapides Parish community of Osburn.
    • Nebraska
      • Frontier 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 Nebraska community of Osburn [Frontier County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Osburn ...

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.

  • Buttermilk Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Buttermilk Falls is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buttermilk Falls
  • Dorothy
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Dorothy is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dorothy
  • Georges Station
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Georges Station is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georges Station
  • Idlepark
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Idlepark is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlepark
  • Lloydsville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Lloydsville is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lloydsville
  • Longbridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Longbridge is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longbridge
  • Old Crabtree
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Old Crabtree is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Crabtree
  • Peanut
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Peanut is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peanut
  • Pleasant Unity
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Superior
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Superior is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior

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

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

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Westmoreland County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Osburn 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 130 miles [209.2 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 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 157 miles [252.7 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 5,934 miles [9,549.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,650 miles [10,702.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,526 miles [7,283.9 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Osburn) 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 Osburn 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 Osburn 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 Osburn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2967, Longitude: -79.3631       In this case, the coordinates for Osburn have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.205 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.148 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.193 degrees.