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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in White Spring, we use the following websites to find information relevant to White Spring 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 White Spring:
    • 40.399809, -76.845528
    • 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 White Spring
  • 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 White Spring 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 White Spring

Communities Also Named White Spring ...

We found one communities that are also named White Spring.

Within Pennsylvania, the name White Spring is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named White Spring in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Chattooga County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of White Spring [Chattooga County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near White Spring ...

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.

  • Ellendale Forge
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Ellendale Forge is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellendale Forge
  • Enders
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Enders is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enders
  • Enterline
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Enterline is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterline
  • Fort Hunter
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fort Hunter is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunter
  • Fox Chase
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Fox Chase is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Chase
  • Haven Croft
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Haven Croft is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Haven Croft
  • Holiday Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Holiday Park is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Park
  • Marysville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Mountain View
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Mountain View is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Overview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Overview is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Overview
  • Piketown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Piketown is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piketown
  • Pleasant Hills
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant Hills is located in Dauphin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hills
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Ridgeview
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Ridgeview is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridgeview
    • Ritzie Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Ritzie Village is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ritzie Village
    • Rockville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • Rockville is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockville
    • Rustic Hills
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Rustic Hills is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustic Hills
    • Singersville
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Singersville is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Singersville
    • Stone Glen
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Stone Glen is located in Dauphin County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Glen

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in White Spring and extending to:

  • Harrisburg, which is the Seat of Dauphin County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies just to the south southwest (SSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 104 miles [167.4 km]<3> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from White Spring to White House, with an average speed<4>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 4 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,826 miles [9,376 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,537 miles [10,520.3 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>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 White Spring 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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 from Point A (ie- White Spring) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 White Spring 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 White Spring. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3998, Longitude: -76.8455       In this case, the coordinates for White Spring have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.669 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.422 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.038 degrees.