RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Cameron County >> Rich Valley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rich Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rich Valley 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 Rich Valley:
    • 41.535341, -78.322235
    • 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 Rich Valley
  • 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 Cameron County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cameron County
    • Since Rich Valley is near Elk County and also McKean County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Elk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McKean 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 Rich Valley

Communities Also Named Rich Valley ...

We found four communities that are also named Rich Valley.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Rich Valley is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Rich Valley lies 1,851 miles [2,978.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Rich Valley that is located in Cameron County.
    • Minnesota
      • Dakota County
      • This Rich Valley is located in Dakota County and lies 772 miles [1,242.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rich Valley that is located in Cameron County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dakota County community of Rich Valley.
    • Ohio
      • Noble County
      • This Rich Valley is located in Noble County and lies 214 miles [344.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rich Valley that is located in Cameron County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Noble County community of Rich Valley.
    • Virginia
      • Smyth 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 Virginia community of Rich Valley [Smyth County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rich Valley ...

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.

  • Dents Run
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Dents Run is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dents Run
  • Emporium
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Glen Hazel
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Glen Hazel is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Hazel
  • Grandview
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Grandview is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Grant
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Grant is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
  • Hicks Run
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Hicks Run is located in Cameron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hicks Run
  • Howard Siding
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Howard Siding is located in Cameron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard Siding
  • Keating Summit
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Keating Summit is located in Potter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keating Summit
  • Lawn View
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Lawn View is located in Cameron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lawn View
  • Liberty
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty is located in McKean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Lynchville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynchville is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynchville
  • Straight Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Straight Creek is located in Elk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Straight Creek

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

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

  • Emporium, which is the Seat of Cameron County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Rich Valley to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 194 miles [312.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,838 miles [9,395.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,557 miles [10,552.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,432 miles [7,132.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rich Valley) 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 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 Rich Valley 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 Rich Valley 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 Rich Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5353, Longitude: -78.3222       In this case, the coordinates for Rich Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.484 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.523 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.244 degrees.