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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sandhill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sandhill 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 Sandhill:
    • 40.243425, -76.660803
    • 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 Sandhill
  • 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 Sandhill is near Lancaster County and also Lebanon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lebanon 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 Sandhill

Communities Also Named Sandhill ...

We found nine communities that are also named Sandhill.

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

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Monroe County
      • This Sandhill is located in Monroe County and lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Sandhill.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Pamlico 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 North Carolina community of Sandhill [Pamlico County].
    • Ohio
      • Washington County
      • This Sandhill is located in Washington County and lies 257 miles [413.6 km]<1> to the west of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Sandhill.
    • Ontario
      • This Sandhill lies 295 miles [474.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
    • Tennessee
      • Rutherford County
      • This Sandhill is located in Rutherford County and lies 610 miles [981.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutherford County community of Sandhill.
      • Weakley County
      • This Sandhill is located in Weakley County and lies 706 miles [1,136.2 km] to the west southwest of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weakley County community of Sandhill.
    • Texas
      • Floyd County
      • This Sandhill is located in Floyd County and lies 1,427 miles [2,296.5 km]<1> to the west of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of Sandhill.
      • Hopkins County
      • This Sandhill is located in Hopkins County and lies 1,145 miles [1,842.7 km] to the west southwest of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hopkins County community of Sandhill.
    • West Virginia
      • Ritchie County
      • This Sandhill is located in Ritchie County and lies 253 miles [407.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Sandhill that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ritchie County community of Sandhill.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sandhill ...

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.

  • Beverly
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Beverly is located in Lancaster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beverly
  • English Manor
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • English Manor is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Manor
  • Hershey
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • High Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • High Ridge is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Ridge
  • Hillymeade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillymeade is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillymeade
  • Hockersville
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hockersville is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hockersville
  • Hummelstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Plainville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Plainville is located in Lebanon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainville
  • Pleasant View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant View is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Sand Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Sand Beach is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Beach
  • Union Deposit
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Union Deposit is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Deposit

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

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

  • Harrisburg, which is the Seat of Dauphin County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sandhill to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4> 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 11 miles [17.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 95 miles [152.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> 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).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,535 miles [10,517.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,410 miles [7,097.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sandhill) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Sandhill 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 Sandhill 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 Sandhill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2434, Longitude: -76.6608       In this case, the coordinates for Sandhill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.571 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.286 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.02 degrees.