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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Saco, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saco 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 Saco:
    • 41.413695, -75.471017
    • 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 Saco
  • 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 Lackawanna County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lackawanna County
    • Since Saco is near Wayne County and also Pike County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pike 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 Saco

Communities Also Named Saco ...

We found ten communities that are also named Saco.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Saco.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Bradford County
      • This Saco is located in Bradford County and lies 61 miles [98.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradford County community of Saco.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Pike County
      • This Saco is located in Pike County and lies 867 miles [1,395.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Saco.
    • California
      • Kern County
      • This Saco is located in Kern County and lies 2,369 miles [3,812.5 km]<1> to the west of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kern County community of Saco.
    • Georgia
      • Mitchell County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Saco [Mitchell County].
    • Kansas
      • Saco #1
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Saco.
    • Maine
      • York County
      • This Saco is located in York County and lies 294 miles [473.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the York County community of Saco.
    • Minnesota
      • Steele County
      • This Saco is located in Steele County and lies 918 miles [1,477.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Steele County community of Saco.
    • Missouri
      • Madison County
      • This Saco is located in Madison County and lies 845 miles [1,359.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Saco.
    • Montana
      • Dawson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Saco [Dawson County].
      • Phillips County
      • This Saco is located in Phillips County and lies 1,618 miles [2,603.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Saco that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Phillips County community of Saco.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Saco ...

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.

  • Elmdale
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Elmdale is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmdale
  • Grassy Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Grassy Island is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassy Island
  • Gravity
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Gravity is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravity
  • Harmony Hills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Harmony Hills is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Hills
  • Jessup
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jessup is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jessup
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,372 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jessup <4>
  • Lake Ariel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Little Chapel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Little Chapel is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Chapel
  • Maplewood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Maplewood is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maplewood
  • Marshwood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Marshwood is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshwood
  • Moscow
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Moscow is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moscow
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,026 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moscow <4>
  • Quicktown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Quicktown is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quicktown
  • Red Oak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Oak is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Oak

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

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

  • Scranton, which is the Seat of Lackawanna County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Saco to Scranton, with an average speed<5> 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 107 miles [172.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 192 miles [309 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,726 miles [9,215.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,439 miles [10,362.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,314 miles [6,942.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Saco) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Saco, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Saco 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Saco 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 Saco. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4137, Longitude: -75.4710       In this case, the coordinates for Saco have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.749 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.542 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.00 degrees.