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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Waynesville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Waynesville 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 Waynesville:
    • 40.452308, -76.879140
    • 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 Waynesville
  • 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 Dauphin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dauphin County
    • Since Waynesville is near Perry County and also Cumberland 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 Cumberland 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 Waynesville

Communities Also Named Waynesville ...

We found seven communities that are also named Waynesville.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Waynesville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Brantley County
      • This Waynesville is located in Brantley County and lies 693 miles [1,115.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brantley County community of Waynesville.
      • Wayne 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 Georgia community of Waynesville [Wayne County].
    • Illinois
      • De Witt County
      • This Waynesville is located in De Witt County and lies 644 miles [1,036.4 km]<1> to the west of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the De Witt County community of Waynesville.
    • Indiana
      • Bartholomew County
      • This Waynesville is located in Bartholomew County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km]<1> to the west of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bartholomew County community of Waynesville.
    • Missouri
      • Pulaski County
      • This Waynesville is located in Pulaski County and lies 840 miles [1,351.8 km]<1> to the west of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pulaski County community of Waynesville.
    • North Carolina
      • Haywood County
      • This Waynesville is located in Haywood County and lies 477 miles [767.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haywood County community of Waynesville.
    • Ohio
      • Warren County
      • This Waynesville is located in Warren County and lies 386 miles [621.2 km]<1> to the west of the Waynesville that is located in Dauphin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Waynesville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Waynesville ...

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.

  • Carsonville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Carsonville is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carsonville
  • Elizabethville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Ellendale Forge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ellendale Forge is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale Forge
  • Enders
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Enders is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enders
  • Enterline
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Enterline is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterline
  • Fisherville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Fisherville is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisherville
  • Fort Hunter
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Fort Hunter is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunter
  • Half Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Half Falls is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Falls
  • Mount Patrick
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Patrick is located in Perry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Patrick
  • Reservoir Heights
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Reservoir Heights is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reservoir Heights
  • Ritzie Village
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Ritzie Village is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritzie Village
  • Singersville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Singersville is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singersville
  • Stone Glen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Stone Glen is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Glen

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

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

  • Harrisburg, which is the Seat of Dauphin County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Waynesville to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 11 miles [17.7 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 107 miles [172.2 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,825 miles [9,374.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,536 miles [10,518.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,412 miles [7,100.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Waynesville) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Waynesville 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Waynesville 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 Waynesville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4523, Longitude: -76.8791       In this case, the coordinates for Waynesville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.686 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.449 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.031 degrees.