RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Fulton County >> Plum Run >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plum Run, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plum Run 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 Plum Run:
    • 39.765647, -78.117783
    • 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 Plum Run
  • 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 Fulton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fulton County
    • Since Plum Run is near Washington County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin 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 Plum Run

Communities Also Named Plum Run ...

We found three communities that are also named Plum Run.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Plum Run is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This Plum Run is located in New Castle County and lies 128 miles [206 km]<1> to the east of the Plum Run that is located in Fulton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Plum Run.
    • Ohio
      • Adams 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 Ohio community of Plum Run [Adams County].
    • West Virginia
      • Tyler County
      • This Plum Run is located in Tyler County and lies 155 miles [249.4 km]<1> to the west of the Plum Run that is located in Fulton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tyler County community of Plum Run.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plum Run ...

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.

  • Big Cove Tannery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Big Cove Tannery is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Cove Tannery
  • Burnt Factory
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Burnt Factory is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Factory
  • Dickeys Mountain
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Dickeys Mountain is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dickeys Mountain
  • Dogtown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dogtown is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dogtown
  • Flickerville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Flickerville is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flickerville
  • Needmore
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Park Head
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Park Head is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Head
  • Roundtop ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Roundtop is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundtop
  • Sleepy Creek
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Sleepy Creek is located in Morgan County (WV)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sleepy Creek
  • Stanley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Stanley is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley
  • Timber Ridge Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Timber Ridge Heights is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Ridge Heights

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

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

  • McConnellsburg, which is the Seat of Fulton County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Plum Run to McConnellsburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 74 miles [119.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 83 miles [133.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,906 miles [9,504.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,617 miles [10,649 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,493 miles [7,230.8 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Plum Run) 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 Plum Run 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 Plum Run 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 Plum Run. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7656, Longitude: -78.1178       In this case, the coordinates for Plum Run have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.48 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.243 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.844 degrees.