RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> York County >> Pigeon Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pigeon Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pigeon Hills 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 Pigeon Hills:
    • 39.868155, -76.930255
    • 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 Pigeon Hills
  • 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 York County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York County
    • Since Pigeon Hills is near Adams County and also Carroll County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carroll 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 Pigeon Hills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pigeon Hills ...

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.

  • Blooming Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Blooming Grove is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blooming Grove
  • Cold Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cold Spring is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
  • Cross Keys
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Cross Keys is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Farmers
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Farmers is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers
  • Fordville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fordville is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fordville
  • Gnatstown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Gnatstown is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gnatstown
  • Green Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Green Springs is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Springs
  • Iron Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Iron Ridge is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Ridge
  • Jacobs Mills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jacobs Mills is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobs Mills
  • Kraft Mill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kraft Mill is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kraft Mill
  • Maple Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Maple Grove is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Martin
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Martin is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Spring Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Spring Grove is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,179 people
  • Valley Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Valley Junction is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<1> community of Pigeon Hills once stood, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Pigeon Hills and extending to:

  • York, which is the Seat of York County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Pigeon Hills to York, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 28 miles [45.1 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 67 miles [107.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,852 miles [9,417.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,561 miles [10,558.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,437 miles [7,140.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Pigeon Hills, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Pigeon Hills) 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 Pigeon Hills 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 Pigeon Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.8682, Longitude: -76.9303       In this case, the coordinates for Pigeon Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.76 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.442 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.288 degrees.