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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smoketown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smoketown 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 Smoketown:
    • 39.948980, -77.575544
    • 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 Smoketown
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Smoketown is near Adams County and also Cumberland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland 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 Smoketown

Communities Also Named Smoketown ...

We found five communities that are also named Smoketown.

There are three communities within Pennsylvania that are also named Smoketown.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Bucks County
      • This Smoketown is located in Bucks County and lies 122 miles [196.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Smoketown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bucks County community of Smoketown.
    • Lancaster County
      • This Smoketown is located in Lancaster County and lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<1> to the east of the Smoketown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Smoketown.
    • Northampton County
      • This Smoketown is located in Northampton County and lies 128 miles [206 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Smoketown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Northampton County community of Smoketown.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Washington 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 Maryland community of Smoketown [Washington County].
    • Ohio
      • Stark County
      • This Smoketown is located in Stark County and lies 214 miles [344.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Smoketown that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stark County community of Smoketown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smoketown ...

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.

  • Cheesetown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cheesetown is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cheesetown
  • Cold Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cold Spring is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
  • Falling Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Falling Spring is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falling Spring
  • Green Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Village is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Village
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Mainsville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mainsville is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mainsville
  • Mount Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Mount Rock is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Rock
  • Pleasant View
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant View is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Pond Bank
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pond Bank is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pond Bank
  • Red Bridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Red Bridge is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bridge
  • Scotland
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)

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

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

  • Chambersburg, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies just to the West.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 43 miles [69.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Smoketown to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 78 miles [125.5 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,875 miles [9,454.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,586 miles [10,599.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,462 miles [7,180.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Smoketown) 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 Smoketown 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 Smoketown 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 Smoketown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9490, Longitude: -77.5755       In this case, the coordinates for Smoketown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.142 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.887 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.537 degrees.