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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Waynesboro, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Waynesboro 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 Waynesboro:
    • 39.757031, -77.579946
    • 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 Waynesboro
  • 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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Waynesboro is near Washington County and also Adams County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams 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 Waynesboro

Communities Also Named Waynesboro ...

We found five communities that are also named Waynesboro.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Waynesboro is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Burke County
      • This Waynesboro is located in Burke County and lies 521 miles [838.5 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Waynesboro that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Burke County community of Waynesboro.
    • Mississippi
      • Wayne County
      • This Waynesboro is located in Wayne County and lies 832 miles [1,339 km]<1> to the southwest of the Waynesboro that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Waynesboro.
    • Tennessee
      • Wayne County
      • This Waynesboro is located in Wayne County and lies 634 miles [1,020.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Waynesboro that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Waynesboro.
    • Virginia
      • Augusta 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 Virginia community of Waynesboro [Augusta County].
      • Waynesboro City
      • This Waynesboro is located in Waynesboro City and lies 136 miles [218.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Waynesboro that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waynesboro City community of Waynesboro.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Waynesboro ...

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.

  • Beartown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Cascade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Clay Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Five Forks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Five Forks is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Fox Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Fox Hill is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hill
  • Gladhill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Gladhill is located in Adams County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gladhill
  • Highfield
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Highfield is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highfield
  • Highfield - Cascade
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jugtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jugtown is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jugtown
  • Roadside
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Roadside is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roadside
  • Rocky Forge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Rocky Forge is located in Washington County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Forge
  • Shady Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Slabtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Slabtown is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown
  • Tomstown
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Tomstown is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomstown

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

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

  • Chambersburg, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Waynesboro to Chambersburg, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 51 miles [82.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 66 miles [106.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,884 miles [9,469.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,594 miles [10,612 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,470 miles [7,193.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Waynesboro) 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 Waynesboro 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 Waynesboro 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 Waynesboro. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7570, Longitude: -77.5799    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.157 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.875 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.613 degrees.