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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pinecroft, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pinecroft 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 Pinecroft:
    • 40.568679, -78.350014
    • 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 Pinecroft
  • 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 Blair County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blair County
    • Since Pinecroft is near Cambria County and also Huntingdon 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 Huntingdon 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 Pinecroft

Communities Also Named Pinecroft ...

We found three communities that are also named Pinecroft.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Pinecroft is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Placer County
      • This Pinecroft is located in Placer County and lies 2,240 miles [3,604.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Pinecroft that is located in Blair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Placer County community of Pinecroft.
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford County
      • This Pinecroft is located in Guilford County and lies 323 miles [519.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Pinecroft that is located in Blair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guilford County community of Pinecroft.
    • Washington
      • Spokane 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 Washington community of Pinecroft [Spokane County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pinecroft ...

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.

  • Bear Loop
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Bear Loop is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Loop
  • Blandburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Blandburg is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blandburg
  • Canoe Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Canoe Creek is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canoe Creek
  • Charlottsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Charlottsville is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlottsville
  • Coupon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Coupon is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coupon
  • Dean
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Dean is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dean
  • Eldorado
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Eldorado is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eldorado
  • Flowing Spring
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Flowing Spring is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowing Spring
  • Gray
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Gray is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray
  • Greenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Greenwood is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Highland Fling
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Highland Fling is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Fling
  • Homer Gap
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Homer Gap is located in Blair County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer Gap
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lloydville
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Lloydville is located in Cambria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lloydville
    • Mill Run
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Mill Run is located in Blair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
    • Roots
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Roots is located in Blair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roots
    • Sickles Corner
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Sickles Corner is located in Blair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sickles Corner
    • Tippletown
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Tippletown is located in Cambria County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tippletown
    • Yellow Spring
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Yellow Spring is located in Blair County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Spring

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

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

  • Hollidaysburg, which is the Seat of Blair County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Pinecroft to Hollidaysburg, with an average speed<3> 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 79 miles [127.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 134 miles [215.7 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,881 miles [9,464.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,596 miles [10,615.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,471 miles [7,195.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Pinecroft) 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 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 Pinecroft 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 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 Pinecroft 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 Pinecroft. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5687, Longitude: -78.3500       In this case, the coordinates for Pinecroft have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.569 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.469 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.637 degrees.