RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Dauphin County >> Rockford Heights >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rockford Heights, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rockford Heights 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 Rockford Heights:
    • 40.335089, -76.769693
    • 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 Rockford Heights
  • 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 Dauphin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin County
    • Since Rockford Heights is near Lebanon County and also Perry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lebanon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perry 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 Rockford Heights

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rockford Heights ...

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.

  • Fox Chase
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Fox Chase is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Chase
  • Haven Croft
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Haven Croft is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haven Croft
  • Hillymeade
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Hillymeade is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillymeade
  • Holiday Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Holiday Park is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Park
  • Kent Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Kent Gardens is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kent Gardens
  • Locust Lane Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Locust Lane Gardens is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Lane Gardens
  • Mountain View
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Mountain View is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Piketown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Piketown is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piketown
  • Pleasant Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Pleasant Hills is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hills
  • Poplar Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Poplar Gardens is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Gardens
  • Ridgeview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Ridgeview is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
  • Rustic Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rustic Hills is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustic Hills
  • Skyline View
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Skyline View is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyline View

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Rockford Heights and extending to:

  • Harrisburg, which is the Seat of Dauphin County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies just to the west southwest (WSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 100 miles [160.9 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Rockford Heights to White House, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,825 miles [9,374.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,536 miles [10,518.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,412 miles [7,100.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rockford Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Rockford Heights 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 Rockford Heights. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3351, Longitude: -76.7697       In this case, the coordinates for Rockford Heights have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.629 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.366 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.031 degrees.