RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Saratoga County >> Ballston Center >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ballston Center, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballston Center 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 Ballston Center:
    • 42.955925, -73.865625
    • 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 Ballston Center
  • 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 Saratoga County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saratoga County
    • Since Ballston Center is near Schenectady County and also Rensselaer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schenectady County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rensselaer 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 Ballston Center

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballston Center ...

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.

  • Burnt Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Covered Wagon Court
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Covered Wagon Court is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Covered Wagon Court
  • Factory Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Factory Village is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Factory Village
  • Halls Corner
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Halls Corner is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Corner
  • Harmony Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • High Mills
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • High Mills is located in Schenectady County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Mills
  • Jonesville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Luther Forest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Luther Forest is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther Forest
  • Malta
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Malta Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Malta Gardens is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malta Gardens
  • Malta Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Malta Meadows is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Malta Meadows
  • Maltaville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Maltaville is located in Saratoga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maltaville
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Marvin Woods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Marvin Woods is located in Saratoga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marvin Woods
    • Orchard Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Orchard Park is located in Saratoga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Park
    • Round Lake
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Silver Springs
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Silver Springs is located in Saratoga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
    • Skipper Hill Farm
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Skipper Hill Farm is located in Saratoga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skipper Hill Farm
    • Tucker Heights
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Tucker Heights is located in Saratoga County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tucker Heights

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Ballston Center and extending to:

  • Ballston Spa, which is the Seat of Saratoga County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could walk a straight line from Ballston Center to Albany, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 325 miles [523 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,597 miles [9,007.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,312 miles [10,158.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,188 miles [6,739.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Ballston Center) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Ballston Center 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 Ballston Center. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9559, Longitude: -73.8656       In this case, the coordinates for Ballston Center have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.595 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.491 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.56 degrees.