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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ridgemont, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ridgemont 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 Ridgemont:
    • 40.828116, -77.948615
    • 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 Ridgemont
  • 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 Centre County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Centre County
    • Since Ridgemont is near Huntingdon County and also Clearfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huntingdon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clearfield 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 Ridgemont

Communities Also Named Ridgemont ...

We found five communities that are also named Ridgemont.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Ridgemont is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Baltimore County and lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Centre County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Ridgemont.
      • Carroll County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Carroll County and lies 105 miles [169 km] to the south southeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Centre County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Ridgemont.
    • New York
      • Monroe 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 New York community of Ridgemont [Monroe County].
    • Ontario
      • This Ridgemont lies 334 miles [537.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Ridgemont that is located in Centre County.
    • Texas
      • Fort Bend County
      • This Ridgemont is located in Fort Bend County and lies 1,252 miles [2,014.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Ridgemont that is located in Centre County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fort Bend County community of Ridgemont.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ridgemont ...

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.

  • Buffalo Run
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Buffalo Run is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Run
  • Circle Ville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Circle Ville is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Circle Ville
  • Hunter Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunter Park is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter Park
  • Julian
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Martha Furnace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Martha Furnace is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martha Furnace
  • Marysville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Marysville is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marysville
  • Park Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Park Hills is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hills
  • Stormstown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stormstown is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stormstown
  • University Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • University Park is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Park
  • Waddle
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Waddle is located in Centre County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waddle

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

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

  • Bellefonte, which is the Seat of Centre County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ridgemont to Bellefonte, with an average speed<4> 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 67 miles [107.8 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 141 miles [226.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,853 miles [9,419.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,568 miles [10,570.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,444 miles [7,151.9 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ridgemont) 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 Ridgemont 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 Ridgemont 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 Ridgemont. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8281, Longitude: -77.9486       In this case, the coordinates for Ridgemont have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.306 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.211 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.356 degrees.