RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Park 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 Orchard Park:
    • 42.767453, -78.743919
    • 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 Orchard Park
  • 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 Erie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie County
    • Since Orchard Park is near Genesee County and also Wyoming County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Genesee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wyoming 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 Orchard Park

Communities Also Named Orchard Park ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Orchard Park.

There is one other community in New York that is also named Orchard Park.

Beyond New York, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, twelve are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In New York ...
    • Saratoga County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Saratoga County and lies 245 miles [394.3 km]<1> to the east of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saratoga County community of Orchard Park.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Fremont County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Fremont County and lies 1,413 miles [2,274 km]<1> to the west of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fremont County community of Orchard Park.
    • Georgia
      • Douglas County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Douglas County and lies 707 miles [1,137.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Orchard Park.
    • Indiana
      • Hamilton County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Hamilton County and lies 429 miles [690.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Orchard Park.
    • Kansas
      • Labette County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Labette County and lies 948 miles [1,525.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Labette County community of Orchard Park.
    • Michigan
      • Calhoun County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Calhoun County and lies 328 miles [527.9 km]<1> to the west of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Orchard Park.
    • New Mexico
      • Chaves County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Chaves County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chaves County community of Orchard Park.
    • North Carolina
      • Mecklenburg County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Mecklenburg County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mecklenburg County community of Orchard Park.
    • Ontario
      • This Orchard Park lies 130 miles [209.2 km]<1> to the west of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Orchard Park [Lancaster County].
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Greenville County and lies 579 miles [931.8 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenville County community of Orchard Park.
    • Utah
      • Davis County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Davis County and lies 1,698 miles [2,732.7 km]<1> to the west of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davis County community of Orchard Park.
    • Washington
      • Spokane County
      • This Orchard Park is located in Spokane County and lies 1,886 miles [3,035.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Orchard Park that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spokane County community of Orchard Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Park ...

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.

How Far From Orchard Park to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as Orchard Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Buffalo, which is the Seat of Erie County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Park to Buffalo, with an average speed<5> 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 252 miles [405.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 281 miles [452.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,802 miles [9,337.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,526 miles [10,502.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,402 miles [7,084.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>'

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- Orchard Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Orchard Park, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Orchard Park 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Orchard Park 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 Orchard Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7675, Longitude: -78.7439    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.652 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.904 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.943 degrees.