RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Ottawa County >> New Holland >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in New Holland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to New Holland 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 New Holland:
    • 42.856134, -86.078931
    • 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 New Holland
  • 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 Ottawa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ottawa County
    • Since New Holland is near Allegan County and also Kent County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent 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 New Holland

Communities Also Named New Holland ...

We found eight communities that are also named New Holland.

Within Michigan, the name New Holland is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Hall County
      • This New Holland is located in Hall County and lies 602 miles [968.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of New Holland.
    • Illinois
      • Logan County
      • This New Holland is located in Logan County and lies 258 miles [415.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Logan County community of New Holland.
    • Indiana
      • Wabash 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 Indiana community of New Holland [Wabash County].
    • North Carolina
      • Hyde County
      • This New Holland is located in Hyde County and lies 736 miles [1,184.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hyde County community of New Holland.
    • Ohio
      • Fayette County
      • This New Holland is located in Fayette County and lies 270 miles [434.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of New Holland.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster County
      • This New Holland is located in Lancaster County and lies 550 miles [885.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of New Holland.
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This New Holland is located in Aiken County and lies 679 miles [1,092.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aiken County community of New Holland.
    • South Dakota
      • Douglas County
      • This New Holland is located in Douglas County and lies 631 miles [1,015.5 km]<1> to the west of the New Holland that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of New Holland.

Curious and Interesting Names Near New Holland ...

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.

  • Beaverdam
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Beaverdam is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaverdam
  • Castle Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Castle Park is located in Allegan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Park
  • Clark Corners
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Clark Corners is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark Corners
  • Crisp
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Crisp is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Forest Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Forest Grove is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Grove
  • Forest Grove Station
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Forest Grove Station is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Grove Station
  • Harlem
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Harlem is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem
  • Holland
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Pearline
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pearline is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearline
  • Pine Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Creek is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
  • Virginia Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Virginia Park is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia Park

How Far From New Holland to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as New Holland to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Grand Haven, which is the Seat of Ottawa County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from New Holland to Grand Haven, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 545 miles [877.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,078 miles [9,781.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,817 miles [10,970.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,700 miles [7,563.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- New Holland) 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 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 New Holland 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 New Holland 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 New Holland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.8561, Longitude: -86.0789       In this case, the coordinates for New Holland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.391 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.282 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.495 degrees.