RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Orange County >> Laurel Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Laurel Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurel Ridge 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 Laurel Ridge:
    • 41.233611, -74.205000
    • 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 Laurel Ridge
  • 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 Orange County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange County
    • Since Laurel Ridge is near Rockland County and also Passaic County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Passaic 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 Laurel Ridge

Communities Also Named Laurel Ridge ...

We found five communities that are also named Laurel Ridge.

Within New York, the name Laurel Ridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Louisiana
      • Iberville Parish
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Iberville Parish and lies 1,214 miles [1,953.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Iberville Parish community of Laurel Ridge.
    • Ohio
      • Stark 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 Ohio community of Laurel Ridge [Stark County].
    • Tennessee
      • Bradley County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Bradley County and lies 713 miles [1,147.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bradley County community of Laurel Ridge.
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,956 miles [3,147.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Laurel Ridge.
    • Virginia
      • Montgomery County
      • This Laurel Ridge is located in Montgomery County and lies 431 miles [693.6 km]<1> to the southwest of the Laurel Ridge that is located in Orange County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Laurel Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurel Ridge ...

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.

  • Dutch Hollow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Dutch Hollow is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Hollow
  • Eagle Valley
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Eagle Valley is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Valley
  • Greenwood Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Hillside Plaza
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Hillside Plaza is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside Plaza
  • Indian Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Hill is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hill
  • Indian Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Indian Park is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Park
  • Lakeville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeville is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeville
  • Silver Maples
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Silver Maples is located in Orange County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Maples
  • Tuxedo Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)

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

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

  • Goshen, which is the Seat of Orange County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Laurel Ridge to Goshen, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 100 miles [160.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 219 miles [352.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,681 miles [9,142.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,390 miles [10,283.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,266 miles [6,865.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Laurel Ridge) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Laurel Ridge 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 Laurel Ridge 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 Laurel Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2336, Longitude: -74.2050       In this case, the coordinates for Laurel Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.005 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.673 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.516 degrees.