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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sylvan Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sylvan 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 Sylvan Hills:
    • 39.972598, -76.612188
    • 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 Sylvan 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 York County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for York County
    • Since Sylvan Hills is near Lancaster County and also Dauphin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin 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 Sylvan Hills

Communities Also Named Sylvan Hills ...

We found six communities that are also named Sylvan Hills.

There is one other community in Pennsylvania that is also named Sylvan Hills.

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

  • Communities Located In Pennsylvania ...
    • Blair County
      • This Sylvan Hills is located in Blair County and lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sylvan Hills that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blair County community of Sylvan Hills.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Pulaski County
      • This Sylvan Hills is located in Pulaski County and lies 925 miles [1,488.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Sylvan Hills that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Sylvan Hills.
    • Georgia
      • Fulton County
      • This Sylvan Hills is located in Fulton County and lies 610 miles [981.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Sylvan Hills that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fulton County community of Sylvan Hills.
    • Illinois
      • Will County
      • This Sylvan Hills is located in Will County and lies 601 miles [967.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sylvan Hills that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Will County community of Sylvan Hills.
    • Indiana
      • Grant County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Sylvan Hills [Grant County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville County
      • This Sylvan Hills is located in Greenville County and lies 469 miles [754.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Sylvan Hills that is located in York County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenville County community of Sylvan Hills.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sylvan 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.

  • Chapel View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Chapel View is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel View
  • East Yoe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • East Yoe is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Yoe
  • Fayfield
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fayfield is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fayfield
  • Golden ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Golden is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Golden
  • Green Acres
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Green Acres is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Greystone Farms
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Greystone Farms is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greystone Farms
  • Locust Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Locust Grove is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Grove
  • Locust Spring
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Locust Spring is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Spring
  • Longstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Longstown is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longstown
  • Longview Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Longview Heights is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview Heights
  • Orchard Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Orchard Hill is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Hill
  • Panorama Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Panorama Hills is located in York County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Hills
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Relay
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Relay is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relay
    • Spring Plains
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Spring Plains is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Plains
    • Stoner
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Stoner is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoner
    • Yorkshire
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Yorkshire is located in York County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire

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

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

  • York, which is the Seat of York County, lies just to the West.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Sylvan Hills to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 77 miles [123.9 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,834 miles [9,388.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,543 miles [10,529.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,419 miles [7,111.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sylvan Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Sylvan 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.
<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 Sylvan 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 Sylvan Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9726, Longitude: -76.6122       In this case, the coordinates for Sylvan Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.562 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.234 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.109 degrees.