Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Altona, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altona and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Altona
- 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 Altona:
- 44.888387, -73.655774
- 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 Altona
- 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 Clinton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clinton County
- Since Altona is near Grand Isle County and also Franklin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Grand Isle County
- eBird sighting report for Franklin 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Altona ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Altona.
Within New York, the name Altona is unique.
Beyond New York, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, nine are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- British Columbia
- This Altona lies 2,165 miles [3,484.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Altona that is located in Clinton County.
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Manitoba
- This Altona lies 1,157 miles [1,862 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Altona that is located in Clinton County.
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Altona lies 280 miles [450.6 km]<1> to the west of the Altona that is located in Clinton County.
- Wyoming
- British Columbia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Altona ...
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.
- Beartown
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Chazy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chazy
- Chazy is located in Clinton County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chazy <5>
- Covey Hill
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Covey Hill came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covey Hill
- Ellenburg
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellenburg have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellenburg
- Ellenburg is located in Clinton County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellenburg <5>
- Forest
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Havelock
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest) - Purdys Mill
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Purdys Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdys Mill
- Purdys Mill is located in Clinton County
- Woods Falls
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Falls
- Woods Falls is located in Clinton County
How Far From Altona 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 Altona to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Altona and extending to:
- Plattsburgh, which is the Seat of Clinton County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Altona to Plattsburgh, with an average speed<7> 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.
- Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 154 miles [247.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 448 miles [721 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,511 miles [8,869.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,234 miles [10,032.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,110 miles [6,614.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Altona. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Clinton County: www.co.clinton.ny.us/
The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Altona) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Altona. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8884, Longitude: -73.6558 In this case, the coordinates for Altona have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Altona, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Altona 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. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Altona to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.199 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.369 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.507 degrees. |