Old Harbor (Alaska) - Tidbits, Odds-and-Ends

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Old Harbor, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Old Harbor and the surrounding area.

Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Old Harbor

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 Old Harbor:
- 57.206571, -153.304063
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Old Harbor

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:
- Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Old Harbor ...

We found two communities that share the name Old Harbor.

Within Alaska, the name Old Harbor is unique.

Beyond Alaska, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Massachusetts
  - Barnstable County
  - This Old Harbor is located in Barnstable County and lies 3,642 miles [5,861.2 km]<1> to the east northeast.
  - For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barnstable County community of Old Harbor.
- Rhode Island
  - Washington 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 Rhode Island community of Old Harbor [Washington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Old Harbor ...

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.

In the vicinity of Old Harbor, Eagle Harbor is located 26 miles [41.8 km]<1> to the Northeast

How Far From Old Harbor 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 city such as Old Harbor to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 697 miles [1,121.7 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Old Harbor to Juneau, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 40 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 28 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 3,528 miles [5,677.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 7 days, a buggy would take 138 days and walking would take 201 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,264 miles [10,080.9 km] and it lies to the north (N).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,946 miles [11,178.5 km] and it lies to the north northwest (NNW).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,535 miles [8,907.7 km] and it lies to the north (N).<7>

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Old Harbor. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Alaska: alaska.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>	Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Old Harbor) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Old Harbor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 57.2066, Longitude: -153.3041
<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 Old Harbor 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 . 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 Old Harbor to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<5>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 7.252 degrees.
<6>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 12.424 degrees.
<7>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 349.29 degrees.