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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vanderbilt, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vanderbilt 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 Vanderbilt:
    • 40.034259, -79.662557
    • 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 Vanderbilt
  • 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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fayette County
    • Since Vanderbilt is near Westmoreland County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Vanderbilt

Communities Also Named Vanderbilt ...

We found eight communities that are also named Vanderbilt.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Vanderbilt is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Jefferson County
      • This Vanderbilt is located in Jefferson County and lies 595 miles [957.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Vanderbilt that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Vanderbilt.
    • California
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Vanderbilt is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,958 miles [3,151.1 km]<1> to the west of the Vanderbilt that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Vanderbilt.
    • Colorado
      • Ouray 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 Colorado community of Vanderbilt [Ouray County].
    • Florida
      • Collier 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 Florida community of Vanderbilt [Collier County].
    • Michigan
      • Otsego County
      • This Vanderbilt is located in Otsego County and lies 434 miles [698.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vanderbilt that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Otsego County community of Vanderbilt.
    • Nevada
      • Eureka County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Vanderbilt [Eureka County].
    • South Dakota
      • Campbell 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 South Dakota community of Vanderbilt [Campbell County].
    • Texas
      • Jackson County
      • This Vanderbilt is located in Jackson County and lies 1,233 miles [1,984.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vanderbilt that is located in Fayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Vanderbilt.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vanderbilt ...

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.

  • Chaintown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Chaintown is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chaintown
  • Coldbrook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Coldbrook is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldbrook
  • Crossland
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Crossland is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossland
  • Dry Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dry Hill is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Hill
  • Elm Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Elm Grove is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Grove
  • Flatwoods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Graham Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Graham Crossing is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham Crossing
  • Hulltown
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Hulltown is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hulltown
  • Liberty
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Liberty is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Little Summit
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Little Summit is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Summit
  • Monarch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Monarch is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
  • Nellie
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Nellie is located in Fayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nellie
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Poplar Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Poplar Grove is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Grove
    • Raineytown
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Raineytown is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raineytown
    • Reservoir Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Reservoir Hill is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir Hill
    • Rogerstown
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Trotter
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Trotter is located in Fayette County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trotter

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

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

  • Uniontown, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vanderbilt to Uniontown, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 147 miles [236.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 160 miles [257.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,958 miles [9,588.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,674 miles [10,740.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,549 miles [7,320.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Vanderbilt) 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 Vanderbilt 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Vanderbilt, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Vanderbilt 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 Vanderbilt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0343, Longitude: -79.6626    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.402 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.332 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.423 degrees.