RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Allegheny County >> South Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Hills 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 South Hills:
    • 40.392014, -80.037554
    • 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 South Hills
  • 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 Allegheny County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny County
    • Since South Hills is near Washington County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland 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 South Hills

Communities Also Named South Hills ...

We found seven communities that are also named South Hills.

Within Pennsylvania, the name South Hills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Kenton 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 Kentucky community of South Hills [Kenton County].
    • North Carolina
      • Cumberland County
      • This South Hills is located in Cumberland County and lies 374 miles [601.9 km]<2> to the south of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of South Hills.
    • South Carolina
      • Union County
      • This South Hills is located in Union County and lies 403 miles [648.6 km]<2> to the south southwest of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of South Hills.
    • Tennessee
      • Blount County
      • This South Hills is located in Blount County and lies 390 miles [627.6 km]<2> to the southwest of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blount County community of South Hills.
      • Cumberland County
      • This South Hills is located in Cumberland County and lies 409 miles [658.2 km] to the southwest of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of South Hills.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This South Hills is located in Kanawha County and lies 165 miles [265.5 km]<2> to the south southwest of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of South Hills.
      • Monongalia County
      • This South Hills is located in Monongalia County and lies 53 miles [85.3 km] to the south of the South Hills that is located in Allegheny County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monongalia County community of South Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Hills ...

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.

  • Curry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Curry is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry
  • Fairywood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Fairywood is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairywood
  • Federal
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Federal is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal
  • Fineview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Fineview is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fineview
  • Glen Hazel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Glen Hazel is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Hazel
  • Green Tree
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Greenfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Greenfield is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Hays
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Hays is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
  • Hillcrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Hillcrest is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Jewell
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jewell is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jewell
  • Longview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Longview is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Marshall Shadeland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Marshall Shadeland is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Shadeland
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Moon Run
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Moon Run is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moon Run
    • Option
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Option is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Option
    • Pleasant Hills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Presto
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Rook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Rook is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rook
    • Spring Garden
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Garden is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Garden
    • Surgeon Hall
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Surgeon Hall is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Surgeon Hall
    • Windgap
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Windgap is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windgap
    • Woods Run
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Woods Run is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Run

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

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

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 166 miles [267.2 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from South Hills to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 190 miles [305.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,957 miles [9,586.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,675 miles [10,742.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,551 miles [7,324.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 South Hills 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 drawn from Point A (ie- South Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 South Hills 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 South Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3920, Longitude: -80.0376       In this case, the coordinates for South Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.615 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.628 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.461 degrees.