RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Montgomery County >> Stony Brook >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Stony Brook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Stony Brook 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 Stony Brook:
    • 40.183442, -75.106283
    • 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 Stony Brook
  • 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 Montgomery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
    • Since Stony Brook is near Bucks County and also Philadelphia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bucks County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Philadelphia 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 Stony Brook

Communities Also Named Stony Brook ...

We found three communities that are also named Stony Brook.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Stony Brook is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Massachusetts
      • Middlesex 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 Massachusetts community of Stony Brook [Middlesex County].
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis 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 Minnesota community of Stony Brook [Saint Louis County].
    • New York
      • Suffolk County
      • This Stony Brook is located in Suffolk County and lies 115 miles [185.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Stony Brook that is located in Montgomery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Suffolk County community of Stony Brook.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Stony Brook ...

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.

  • Breadysville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Breadysville is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Breadysville
  • Carpenters Way
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Carpenters Way is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenters Way
  • Casey Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Casey Village is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casey Village
  • County Line
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • County Line is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
  • Dublin Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dublin Crossing is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dublin Crossing
  • Fairoaks
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fairoaks is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairoaks
  • Hartsville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hartsville is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartsville
  • Heaton
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Heaton is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton
  • Ivybrook Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Ivybrook Ridge is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivybrook Ridge
  • Ivygreene Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Ivygreene Run is located in Bucks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivygreene Run
  • Ivyland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Jamestown Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jamestown Village is located in Montgomery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jamestown Village
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Johnsville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Johnsville is located in Bucks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsville
    • Lacey Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Lacey Park is located in Bucks County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey Park
    • Maple Glen
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Maple Glen Hollow
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Maple Glen Hollow is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Glen Hollow
    • Meetinghouse Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Meetinghouse Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meetinghouse Village
    • Mill Run
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Mill Run is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mill Run
    • Paper Mills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Paper Mills is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paper Mills
    • Robert Bruce
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Robert Bruce is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robert Bruce
    • Saw Mill Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Saw Mill Valley is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saw Mill Valley
    • Shoemaker Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Shoemaker Village is located in Montgomery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoemaker Village
    • Willow Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Norristown, which is the Seat of Montgomery County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Stony Brook to Norristown, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 93 miles [149.7 km] to the west (W). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 135 miles [217.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,762 miles [9,273 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,468 miles [10,409.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,345 miles [6,992.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 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 Stony Brook 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 '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- Stony Brook) 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 Stony Brook 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 Stony Brook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1834, Longitude: -75.1063       In this case, the coordinates for Stony Brook have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.648 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.232 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.371 degrees.