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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Chester, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Chester 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 West Chester:
    • 39.959708, -75.604377
    • 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 West Chester
  • 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 Chester County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester County
    • Since West Chester is near Delaware County and also Erie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Delaware County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie 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 West Chester

Communities Also Named West Chester ...

We found seven communities that are also named West Chester.

Within Pennsylvania, the name West Chester is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Washington County
      • This West Chester is located in Washington County and lies 853 miles [1,372.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the West Chester that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of West Chester.
    • Michigan
      • Ottawa 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 Michigan community of West Chester [Ottawa County].
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This West Chester is located in Butler County and lies 469 miles [754.8 km]<1> to the west of the West Chester that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of West Chester.
      • Tuscarawas County
      • This West Chester is located in Tuscarawas County and lies 303 miles [487.6 km] to the west of the West Chester that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuscarawas County community of West Chester.
    • South Carolina
      • Chester 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 Carolina community of West Chester [Chester County].
      • Richland County
      • This West Chester is located in Richland County and lies 508 miles [817.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the West Chester that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of West Chester.
    • Virginia
      • Roanoke City
      • This West Chester is located in Roanoke City and lies 302 miles [486 km]<1> to the southwest of the West Chester that is located in Chester County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of West Chester.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Chester ...

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.

  • Allegiance
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Allegiance is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allegiance
  • Bow Tree
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Bow Tree is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bow Tree
  • Chatwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Chatwood is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatwood
  • Cider Knoll
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Cider Knoll is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cider Knoll
  • Copesville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Copesville is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copesville
  • Coventry Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Coventry Village is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry Village
  • Deer Pointe
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Deer Pointe is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Pointe
  • Fair Meadow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Fair Meadow is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Meadow
  • Fern Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
  • Grace Villa
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Grace Villa is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace Villa
  • Grand Oak Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Grand Oak Run is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Oak Run
  • Green Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Green Hill is located in Chester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Grove
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Grove is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove
    • Harmony Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Harmony Hill is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Hill
    • Hummingbird Farm
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Hummingbird Farm is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hummingbird Farm
    • Kirby Woods
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Kirby Woods is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby Woods
    • Milltown
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Milltown is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
    • Pleasant Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Pleasant Grove is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
    • Rocky Hill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Rocky Hill is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Hill
    • Seal
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Suburban Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Suburban Village is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suburban Village
    • Twin Bridge Farm
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Twin Bridge Farm is located in Chester County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridge Farm

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

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

  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from West Chester to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 105 miles [169 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,792 miles [9,321.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,498 miles [10,457.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,375 miles [7,040.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Chester) 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 West Chester 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 West Chester 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 West Chester. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9597, Longitude: -75.6044    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.964 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.553 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.68 degrees.