RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Lancaster County >> Penn Hill >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Penn Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Penn 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 Penn Hill:
    • 39.780661, -76.178843
    • 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 Penn 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 Lancaster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Since Penn Hill is near Cecil County and also York County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cecil County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York 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 Penn Hill

Curious and Interesting Names Near Penn 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.

  • Bald Friar ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Bald Friar is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bald Friar
  • Chestnut Level
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnut Level is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Level
  • Five Points ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Jenkins Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Jenkins Corner is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins Corner
  • Kirks Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kirks Mills is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirks Mills
  • Little Britain
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Little Britain is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Britain
  • Mechanic Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Mechanic Grove is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Grove
  • Mount Pleasant ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • New Texas
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • New Texas is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Oak Shade
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Oak Shade is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Shade
  • Peach Bottom
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pilot
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pilot is located in Cecil County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Pleasant Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Rock Springs
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Rock Springs is located in Cecil County (MD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
    • Summerhill
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Summerhill is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill
    • Unicorn
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Unicorn is located in Lancaster County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unicorn
    • Whispering Pines
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Whispering Pines is located in Cecil County (MD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Penn Hill and extending to:

  • Lancaster, which is the Seat of Lancaster County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Penn Hill to Lancaster, with an average speed<3> 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 6 hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 50 miles [80.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 76 miles [122.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving 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 5,824 miles [9,372.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,531 miles [10,510.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,407 miles [7,092.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- Penn Hill) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Penn 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 Penn Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7807, Longitude: -76.1788       In this case, the coordinates for Penn Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.319 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.928 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.00 degrees.