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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Snufftown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Snufftown 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 Snufftown:
    • 40.856197, -76.580512
    • 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 Snufftown
  • 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 Northumberland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northumberland County
    • Since Snufftown is near Columbia County and also Montour County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montour 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 Snufftown

Communities Also Named Snufftown ...

We found two communities that are also named Snufftown.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Snufftown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Allegany County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Snufftown [Allegany County].
    • New York
      • Orange County
      • This Snufftown is located in Orange County and lies 116 miles [186.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Snufftown that is located in Northumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Snufftown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Snufftown ...

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.

  • Bear Gap
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Bear Gap is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Gap
  • Marion Heights
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Marion Heights is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion Heights
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 573 people
  • Meadowview
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Meadowview is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowview
  • Overlook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Overlook is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overlook
  • Quitman
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Quitman is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quitman
  • Reed
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Reed is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reed
  • Rushtown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rushtown is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rushtown
  • Shamrock
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Shamrock is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Sunnyside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Sunnyside is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Union Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Union Corner is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Corner
  • Uniontown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Uniontown is located in Northumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Uniontown

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

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

  • Sunbury, which is the Seat of Northumberland County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Snufftown to Sunbury, with an average speed<3> 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 42 miles [67.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 137 miles [220.5 km] to the south (S). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,796 miles [9,327.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,508 miles [10,473.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,383 miles [7,053.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Snufftown 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Snufftown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Snufftown 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 Snufftown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8562, Longitude: -76.5805       In this case, the coordinates for Snufftown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.472 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.271 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.733 degrees.