RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Bradford County >> Towanda >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Towanda, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Towanda and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Towanda:
    • 41.761464, -76.447719
    • 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 Towanda
  • 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 Bradford County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bradford County
    • Since Towanda is near Sullivan County and also Wyoming County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sullivan 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 Towanda

Communities Also Named Towanda ...

We found three communities that are also named Towanda.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Towanda is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • McLean County
      • This Towanda is located in McLean County and lies 652 miles [1,049.3 km]<1> to the west of the Towanda that is located in Bradford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McLean County community of Towanda.
    • Kansas
      • Butler County
      • This Towanda is located in Butler County and lies 1,121 miles [1,804.1 km]<1> to the west of the Towanda that is located in Bradford County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Towanda.
    • North Dakota
      • Sargent 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 North Dakota community of Towanda [Sargent County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Towanda ...

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.

  • Asylum
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Asylum is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asylum
  • Highland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Highland is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Hornbrook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Hornbrook is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hornbrook
  • Kellogg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Kellogg is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellogg
  • Luthers Mills
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Luthers Mills is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luthers Mills
  • Mac
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mac is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mac
  • Marshview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Marshview is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshview
  • Mountain Lake
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mountain Lake is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Lake
  • Overshot
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Overshot is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overshot
  • Quarry Glen
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Quarry Glen is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quarry Glen
  • Standing Stone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Standing Stone is located in Bradford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standing Stone

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

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

  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 104 miles [167.4 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Towanda 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 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 200 miles [321.9 km] to the south (S). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,752 miles [9,256.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,468 miles [10,409.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,343 miles [6,989.4 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Towanda) 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 Towanda 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 Towanda 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 Towanda. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7615, Longitude: -76.4477       In this case, the coordinates for Towanda have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.311 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.232 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.292 degrees.