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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Marvin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Marvin 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 Marvin:
    • 42.031443, -79.734495
    • 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 Marvin
  • 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 Chautauqua County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chautauqua County
    • Since Marvin is near Erie County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Marvin

Communities Also Named Marvin ...

We found ten communities that are also named Marvin.

Within New York, the name Marvin is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook 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 Illinois community of Marvin [Cook County].
    • Michigan
      • Lenawee 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 Michigan community of Marvin [Lenawee County].
    • Missouri
      • Morgan County
      • This Marvin is located in Morgan County and lies 730 miles [1,174.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morgan County community of Marvin.
    • North Carolina
      • Union County
      • This Marvin is located in Union County and lies 488 miles [785.4 km]<2> to the south of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Union County community of Marvin.
    • South Dakota
      • Grant County
      • This Marvin is located in Grant County and lies 884 miles [1,422.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Marvin.
    • Tennessee
      • Greene County
      • This Marvin is located in Greene County and lies 435 miles [700.1 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Marvin.
    • Texas
      • Lamar County
      • This Marvin is located in Lamar County and lies 1,034 miles [1,664.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lamar County community of Marvin.
      • Robertson County
      • This Marvin is located in Robertson County and lies 1,211 miles [1,948.9 km] to the west southwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Robertson County community of Marvin.
    • Virginia
      • Buchanan County
      • This Marvin is located in Buchanan County and lies 354 miles [569.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Marvin that is located in Chautauqua County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Marvin.
      • Wythe 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 Virginia community of Marvin [Wythe County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Marvin ...

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.

  • Beaver Dam
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Beaver Dam is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Dam
  • Cutting
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Cutting is located in Chautauqua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutting
  • Five Points
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Points is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • French Creek
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • French Creek is located in Chautauqua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Creek
  • Little Hope
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Hope is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Hope
  • Lowville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Lowville is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lowville
  • Ranges Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Ranges Corners is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ranges Corners
  • Slab City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Slab City is located in Chautauqua County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slab City
  • Valley Corners
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Valley Corners is located in Erie County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Corners

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

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

  • Mayville, which is the Seat of Chautauqua County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Marvin to Mayville, 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 6 hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 307 miles [494.1 km] to the east (E). 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 18 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 258 miles [415.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,873 miles [9,451.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,597 miles [10,616.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,473 miles [7,198.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Marvin 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 '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- Marvin) 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 Marvin 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 Marvin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0314, Longitude: -79.7345       In this case, the coordinates for Marvin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.33 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.557 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.706 degrees.