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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Powelton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Powelton 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 Powelton:
    • 40.221746, -78.173620
    • 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 Powelton
  • 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 Huntingdon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huntingdon County
    • Since Powelton is near Bedford County and also Blair County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bedford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blair 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 Powelton

Communities Also Named Powelton ...

We found five communities that are also named Powelton.

There are two communities within Pennsylvania that are also named Powelton.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Centre County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Powelton [Centre County].
    • Philadelphia County
      • This Powelton is located in Philadelphia County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<2> to the east of the Powelton that is located in Huntingdon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Philadelphia County community of Powelton.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Kent County
      • This Powelton is located in Kent County and lies 166 miles [267.2 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Powelton that is located in Huntingdon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Powelton.
    • Georgia
      • Hancock County
      • This Powelton is located in Hancock County and lies 535 miles [861 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Powelton that is located in Huntingdon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Powelton.
    • North Carolina
      • Richmond County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Powelton [Richmond County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Powelton ...

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.

  • Beavertown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Beavertown is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beavertown
  • Cherrytown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cherrytown is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherrytown
  • Cooks
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cooks is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooks
  • Defiance
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Defiance is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
  • Hickory Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Hill is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hill
  • Marysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Marysville is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
  • Paradise Furnace
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Paradise Furnace is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paradise Furnace
  • Riddlesburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Riddlesburg is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riddlesburg
  • Rocky Ridge ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rocky Ridge is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ridge
  • Round Knob
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Round Knob is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Knob
  • Salter
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Salter is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salter
  • Stonerstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Stonerstown is located in Bedford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonerstown
  • Trough Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Trough Creek is located in Huntingdon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trough Creek

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

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

  • Huntingdon, which is the Seat of Huntingdon County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Powelton to Huntingdon, 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 most of a day.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 68 miles [109.4 km] to the east (E). 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 109 miles [175.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,888 miles [9,475.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,602 miles [10,624.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,477 miles [7,205 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Powelton 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Powelton) 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 Powelton 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 Powelton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2217, Longitude: -78.1736       In this case, the coordinates for Powelton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.485 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.319 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.693 degrees.