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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Raven Run, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Raven 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 Raven Run:
    • 40.816102, -76.254391
    • 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 Raven 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 Schuylkill County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schuylkill County
    • Since Raven Run is near Columbia County and also Northumberland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northumberland 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 Raven Run

Communities Also Named Raven Run ...

We found two communities that are also named Raven Run.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Raven Run is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Carroll County
      • This Raven Run is located in Carroll County and lies 92 miles [148.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Raven Run that is located in Schuylkill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Raven Run.
    • Virginia
      • Hanover County
      • This Raven Run is located in Hanover County and lies 226 miles [363.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Raven Run that is located in Schuylkill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hanover County community of Raven Run.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Raven 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.

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

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

  • Pottsville, which is the Seat of Schuylkill County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Raven Run to Pottsville, 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 49 miles [78.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 138 miles [222.1 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5,784 miles [9,308.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,495 miles [10,452.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,371 miles [7,034.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Raven Run) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Raven 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 Raven Run. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8161, Longitude: -76.2544       In this case, the coordinates for Raven Run have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.279 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.045 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.605 degrees.