RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Juniata County >> Van Wert >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Van Wert, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Van Wert 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 Van Wert:
    • 40.583135, -77.297210
    • 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 Van Wert
  • 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 Juniata County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Juniata County
    • Since Van Wert is near Perry County and also Mifflin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Perry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mifflin 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 Van Wert

Communities Also Named Van Wert ...

We found three communities that are also named Van Wert.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Van Wert is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Polk County
      • This Van Wert is located in Polk County and lies 622 miles [1,001 km]<1> to the southwest of the Van Wert that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Van Wert.
    • Iowa
      • Decatur County
      • This Van Wert is located in Decatur County and lies 862 miles [1,387.3 km]<1> to the west of the Van Wert that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Decatur County community of Van Wert.
    • Ohio
      • Van Wert County
      • This Van Wert is located in Van Wert County and lies 381 miles [613.2 km]<1> to the west of the Van Wert that is located in Juniata County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Wert County community of Van Wert.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Van Wert ...

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.

  • Centre
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Centre is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centre
  • Cuba Mills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Cuba Mills is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba Mills
  • Goodville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Goodville is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodville
  • Little Roundtop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Roundtop is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Roundtop
  • Locust Run
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Locust Run is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Locust Run
  • Maze
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Maze is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maze
  • Mexico
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mexico is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mexico
  • Mount Pleasant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Rockville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Rockville is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
  • Roundtop
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Roundtop is located in Juniata County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roundtop

How Far From Van Wert to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Van Wert to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mifflintown, which is the Seat of Juniata County, lies just to the West.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Van Wert to Harrisburg, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 117 miles [188.3 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,837 miles [9,393.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,550 miles [10,541.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,425 miles [7,121.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Van Wert) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 Van Wert 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 Van Wert. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5831, Longitude: -77.2972       In this case, the coordinates for Van Wert have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.928 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.744 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.163 degrees.