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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Paint, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Paint 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 Paint:
    • 40.242021, -78.848078
    • 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 Paint
  • 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 Somerset County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Somerset County
    • Since Paint is near Cambria County and also Bedford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cambria County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford 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 Paint

Communities Also Named Paint ...

We found one communities that are also named Paint.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Paint is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named Paint in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ohio
      • Highland 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 Ohio community of Paint [Highland County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Paint ...

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.

  • Cover Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cover Hill is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cover Hill
  • Daisytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Daisytown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisytown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 290 people
  • Dale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dale is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dale
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,110 people
  • Davidsville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Elton
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Ferndale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Jerome Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jerome Junction is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jerome Junction
  • Johnstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Maple Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Maple Ridge is located in Somerset County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Ridge
  • Parkstown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Parkstown is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkstown
  • Scalp Level
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Scalp Level is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scalp Level
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 691 people
  • Stonycreek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Stonycreek is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonycreek
  • Walnut Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Walnut Grove is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Grove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Paint and extending to:

  • Somerset, which is the Seat of Somerset County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<3> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Paint to Somerset, with an average speed<4> 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 103 miles [165.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 133 miles [214 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 5,915 miles [9,519.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,630 miles [10,670 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,506 miles [7,251.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 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 Paint 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- Paint) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Paint 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 Paint. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2420, Longitude: -78.8481       In this case, the coordinates for Paint have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.894 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.786 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.984 degrees.