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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Surgeon Hall, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Surgeon Hall 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 Surgeon Hall:
    • 40.348125, -79.966162
    • 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 Surgeon Hall
  • 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 Surgeon Hall 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 Surgeon Hall

Curious and Interesting Names Near Surgeon Hall ...

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.

  • Coal Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Coal Valley is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Valley
  • Curry
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Curry is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Curry
  • Experiment
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Experiment is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Experiment
  • Gill Hall
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Gill Hall is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gill Hall
  • Glassport
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Glen Hazel
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen Hazel is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Hazel
  • Hays
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hays is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
  • Hillcrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Hillcrest is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Library
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Lincoln Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Lincoln Place is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Place
  • Longview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Longview is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • New England
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • New England is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New England
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • New Homestead
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • New Homestead is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Homestead
    • Option
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Option is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Option
    • Otto
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Otto is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otto
    • Piney Fork
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Piney Fork is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Fork
    • Pleasant Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Terrace
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Terrace is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrace

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Surgeon Hall and extending to:

  • Pittsburgh, which is the Seat of Allegheny County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 162 miles [260.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Surgeon Hall to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than 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 185 miles [297.7 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,956 miles [9,585.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,674 miles [10,740.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,549 miles [7,320.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 from Point A (ie- Surgeon Hall) 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 Surgeon Hall 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 Surgeon Hall. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3481, Longitude: -79.9662       In this case, the coordinates for Surgeon Hall have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.573 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.574 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.445 degrees.