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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Renton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Renton and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Renton:
    • 40.501734, -79.726435
    • 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 Renton
  • 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since Renton is near Westmoreland County and also Armstrong County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Armstrong 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 Renton

Communities Also Named Renton ...

We found three communities that are also named Renton.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Renton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Calhoun 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 Michigan community of Renton [Calhoun County].
    • Ontario
      • This Renton lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<2> to the north of the Renton that is located in Allegheny County.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • This Renton is located in King County and lies 2,136 miles [3,437.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Renton that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Renton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Renton ...

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.

  • Barking
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Barking is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barking
  • Camp Jo-Ann
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Camp Jo-Ann is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camp Jo-Ann
  • Center
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Center is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center
  • Holiday Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Holiday Park is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Park
  • Leechburg
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Leechburg is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leechburg
  • Milltown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Milltown is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • New Texas
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • New Texas is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Plum
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Plum is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plum
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,993 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Plum <3>
  • Regency Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Regency Park is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Park
  • Unity
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Unity is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity
  • Unity Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Unity Junction is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity Junction

How Far From Renton to ...

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

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

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Renton to Pittsburgh, with an average speed<4> 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 150 miles [241.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 180 miles [289.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,940 miles [9,559.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,658 miles [10,715 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,533 miles [7,295.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Renton 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 from Point A (ie- Renton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Renton 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 Renton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5017, Longitude: -79.7264       In this case, the coordinates for Renton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.417 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.42 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.28 degrees.