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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Victory Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Victory 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 Victory Hills:
    • 40.191460, -79.892548
    • 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 Victory 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 Washington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Since Victory Hills is near Allegheny County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegheny 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 Victory Hills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Victory 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.

  • Black Diamond
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Black Diamond is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Diamond
  • Cracker Jack
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Cracker Jack is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cracker Jack
  • Elkhorn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Elkhorn is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Fisher
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fisher is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
  • Grandview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Grandview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Lockview
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Lockview is located in Washington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockview
  • Mustard
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Mustard is located in Allegheny County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustard
  • New Eagle
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Pricedale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pricedale is located in Westmoreland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pricedale
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • River View
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • River View is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River View
    • Riverview
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Riverview is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Rogers Stop
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Rogers Stop is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers Stop
    • Shire Oaks
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Shire Oaks is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shire Oaks
    • Sunny Side
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Sunny Side is located in Allegheny County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Side
    • Twin Bridges
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Twin Bridges is located in Washington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridges

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

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

  • Washington, which is the Seat of Washington County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Victory Hills to Washington, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 158 miles [254.3 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 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 176 miles [283.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,960 miles [9,591.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,677 miles [10,745.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,553 miles [7,327.3 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 '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- Victory Hills) 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 Victory 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 Victory Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1915, Longitude: -79.8925       In this case, the coordinates for Victory Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.536 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.507 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.469 degrees.