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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River 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 River Valley:
    • 40.546179, -79.821438
    • 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 River 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since River Valley is near Westmoreland County and also Butler 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 Butler 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 River Valley

Communities Also Named River Valley ...

We found three communities that are also named River Valley.

Within Pennsylvania, the name River Valley 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 ...
    • Minnesota
      • Pennington County
      • This River Valley is located in Pennington County and lies 939 miles [1,511.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the River Valley that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pennington County community of River Valley.
    • Ontario
      • This River Valley lies 281 miles [452.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the River Valley that is located in Allegheny County.
    • Utah
      • Weber County
      • This River Valley is located in Weber County and lies 1,671 miles [2,689.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the River Valley that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weber County community of River Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near River 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.

  • Arnold
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Arnold is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arnold
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,790 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arnold <2>
  • Barking
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Barking is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barking
  • Fox Chapel
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Leechburg
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Leechburg is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leechburg
  • Milltown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Milltown is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • New Texas
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • New Texas is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Texas
  • Peter Mans Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Peter Mans Corner is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peter Mans Corner
  • Plum
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • 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 <2>
  • Point Breeze
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Point Breeze is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Breeze
  • Rosedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Rosedale is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
  • Rural Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Unity
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Unity is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity
  • Unity Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Unity Junction is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity Junction
  • Valley Camp
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Valley Camp is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Camp

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

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

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from River Valley to Pittsburgh, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 155 miles [249.4 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 186 miles [299.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,942 miles [9,562.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,660 miles [10,718.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,535 miles [7,298.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- River Valley) 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 River 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 River Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5462, Longitude: -79.8214       In this case, the coordinates for River Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.474 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.491 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.307 degrees.