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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDonough, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDonough 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 McDonough:
    • 42.498403, -75.767971
    • 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 McDonough
  • 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 Chenango County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chenango County
    • Since McDonough is near Cortland County and also Broome County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cortland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Broome 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 McDonough

Communities Also Named McDonough ...

We found four communities that are also named McDonough.

Within New York, the name McDonough is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • New Castle County
      • This McDonough is located in New Castle County and lies 207 miles [333.1 km]<1> to the south of the McDonough that is located in Chenango County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of McDonough.
    • Georgia
      • Henry County
      • This McDonough is located in Henry County and lies 773 miles [1,244 km]<1> to the southwest of the McDonough that is located in Chenango County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henry County community of McDonough.
    • Michigan
      • Saginaw 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 Michigan community of McDonough [Saginaw County].
    • Texas
      • Harris 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 Texas community of McDonough [Harris County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDonough ...

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.

  • Dibble Corner
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dibble Corner is located in Chenango County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dibble Corner
  • Georgetown
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Georgetown is located in Cortland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgetown
  • German Four Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • German Four Corners is located in Chenango County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for German Four Corners
  • Lakeview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeview is located in Chenango County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Lakeville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Lakeville is located in Chenango County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeville
  • Lower Cincinnatus
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Lower Cincinnatus is located in Cortland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Cincinnatus
  • Penelope
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Penelope is located in Broome County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Penelope
  • Pitcher
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Pitcher Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Pitcher Springs is located in Chenango County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitcher Springs

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

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

  • Norwich, which is the Seat of Chenango County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from McDonough to Norwich, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 102 miles [164.2 km] to the east (E). 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 257 miles [413.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,694 miles [9,163.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,411 miles [10,317.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,286 miles [6,897.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McDonough) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 McDonough 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 McDonough 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 McDonough. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4984, Longitude: -75.7680       In this case, the coordinates for McDonough have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.82 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.796 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.657 degrees.