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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spike Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spike Island 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 Spike Island:
    • 41.351747, -75.718803
    • 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 Spike Island
  • 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 Spike Island is near Luzerne County and also Wyoming County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Luzerne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming 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 Spike Island

Communities Also Named Spike Island ...

We found one communities that are also named Spike Island.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Spike Island.

Beyond Pennsylvania.

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Centre County
      • This Spike Island is located in Centre County and lies 137 miles [220.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Spike Island that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Centre County community of Spike Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spike Island ...

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.

  • Barbertown ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Barbertown is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barbertown
  • Bush Patch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Bush Patch is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush Patch
  • Cork Lane
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cork Lane is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cork Lane
  • Dunmore
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Dunmore is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunmore
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,836 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dunmore <2>
  • Green Ridge
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Ridge is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Ridge
  • Greenwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Happy Valley
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Happy Valley is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Valley
  • Hillside Junction
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Hillside Junction is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside Junction
  • Hughestown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hughestown is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughestown
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,356 people
  • Inkerman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Inkerman is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Inkerman
  • Keystone
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Keystone is located in Luzerne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Milwaukee
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Milwaukee is located in Lackawanna County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milwaukee
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Providence
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Providence is located in Lackawanna County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Providence
    • Ransom
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Ransom is located in Lackawanna County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom
    • Rockdale
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Rockdale is located in Lackawanna County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
    • Starks
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Starks is located in Lackawanna County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starks
    • Wyoming
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Scranton, which is the Seat of Lackawanna County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Spike Island to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 183 miles [294.5 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,739 miles [9,236 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,452 miles [10,383.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,327 miles [6,963.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Spike Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Spike Island 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 Spike Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.3517, Longitude: -75.7188       In this case, the coordinates for Spike Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.906 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.709 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.138 degrees.