RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for New York







Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Ghent:
    • 42.329253, -73.615674
    • 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 Ghent
  • 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 Ghent ...

We found eleven communities that share the name Ghent.

Within New York, the name Ghent is unique.

Beyond New York, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Gwinnett 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 Ghent [Gwinnett County].
    • Kansas
      • Ghent #
      • 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 Kansas community of Ghent.
    • Kentucky
      • Carroll County
      • This Ghent is located in Carroll County and lies 649 miles [1,044.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Ghent.
    • Maine
      • Waldo County
      • This Ghent is located in Waldo County and lies 261 miles [420 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waldo County community of Ghent.
    • Minnesota
      • Lyon County
      • This Ghent is located in Lyon County and lies 1,123 miles [1,807.3 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyon County community of Ghent.
    • Ohio
      • Summit County
      • This Ghent is located in Summit County and lies 420 miles [675.9 km]<2> to the west of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summit County community of Ghent.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford County
      • This Ghent is located in Bradford County and lies 148 miles [238.2 km]<2> to the west of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradford County community of Ghent.
    • Texas
      • Cherokee County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Cherokee County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Ghent.
    • Virginia
      • Norfolk City
      • This Ghent is located in Norfolk City and lies 403 miles [648.6 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk City community of Ghent.
      • Roanoke City
      • This Ghent is located in Roanoke City and lies 485 miles [780.5 km] to the southwest of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of Ghent.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh County
      • This Ghent is located in Raleigh County and lies 512 miles [824 km]<2> to the southwest of the Ghent that is located in Columbia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Raleigh County community of Ghent.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ghent ...

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.

  • Brick Tavern
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brick Tavern have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brick Tavern
    • Brick Tavern is located in Columbia County
  • Coxsackie
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Green River
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green River have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green River
    • Green River is located in Columbia County
  • Harlemville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlemville
    • Harlemville is located in Columbia County
  • Hollowville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Kinderhook
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Newton Hook
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Newton Hook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newton Hook
    • Newton Hook is located in Columbia County
  • Red Mills
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mills
    • Red Mills is located in Columbia County
  • Red Rock
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
    • Red Rock is located in Columbia County
  • Rock City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock City
    • Rock City is located in Columbia County
  • Sunnyside
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunnyside have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
    • Sunnyside is located in Columbia County
  • Upper Hollowville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Upper Hollowville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Hollowville
    • Upper Hollowville is located in Columbia County

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

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

  • Hudson, which is the Seat of Columbia County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ghent to Hudson, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 23 miles [37 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 297 miles [478 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,612 miles [9,031.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,324 miles [10,177.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,200 miles [6,759.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<10>

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

The official website for Columbia County: www.columbiacountyny.com/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

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 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 Ghent 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>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- Ghent) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ghent. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3293, Longitude: -73.6157       In this case, the coordinates for Ghent have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<3>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 Ghent, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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>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.
<7>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 Ghent to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.521 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.305 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.744 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024