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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Polkville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Polkville 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 Polkville:
    • 41.234528, -76.433000
    • 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 Polkville
  • 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 Columbia County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia County
    • Since Polkville is near Lycoming County and also Sullivan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lycoming County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan 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 Polkville

Communities Also Named Polkville ...

We found nine communities that are also named Polkville.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Polkville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Calhoun County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Polkville [Calhoun County].
    • Kentucky
      • Warren County
      • This Polkville is located in Warren County and lies 603 miles [970.4 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Polkville.
    • Mississippi
      • Smith County
      • This Polkville is located in Smith County and lies 961 miles [1,546.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smith County community of Polkville.
    • New Jersey
      • Warren County
      • This Polkville is located in Warren County and lies 74 miles [119.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Polkville.
    • New York
      • Chenango County
      • This Polkville is located in Chenango County and lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chenango County community of Polkville.
      • Cortland County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of Polkville [Cortland County].
      • Onondaga County
      • This Polkville is located in Onondaga County and lies 129 miles [207.6 km] to the north of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Polkville.
    • North Carolina
      • Cleveland County
      • This Polkville is located in Cleveland County and lies 490 miles [788.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the Polkville that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cleveland County community of Polkville.
    • Ohio
      • Belmont County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Belmont County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Belmont County community of Polkville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Polkville ...

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.

  • Biggerstown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Biggerstown is located in Lycoming County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biggerstown
  • Central
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Central is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Central
  • Divide
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Divide is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Divide
  • Elk Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Elk Grove is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Grove
  • Five Points
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Five Points is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Greenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Greenwood is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Honeytown
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Honeytown is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeytown
  • Maple Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Maple Grove is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Pine Summit
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Summit is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Summit
  • Red Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Red Rock is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
  • Stillwater
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Unityville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)

How Far From Polkville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Polkville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Bloomsburg, which is the Seat of Columbia County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Polkville to Bloomsburg, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day 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 69 miles [111 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 White House (Washington, DC) is 164 miles [263.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,774 miles [9,292.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,487 miles [10,439.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,363 miles [7,021.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>'

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 Polkville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Polkville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Polkville 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Polkville 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 Polkville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2345, Longitude: -76.4330       In this case, the coordinates for Polkville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.35 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.192 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.509 degrees.