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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Solvay, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Solvay 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 Solvay:
    • 43.057303, -76.212431
    • 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 Solvay
  • 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 Onondaga County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Onondaga County
    • Since Solvay is near Oswego County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oswego County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Solvay

Communities Also Named Solvay ...

We found two communities that are also named Solvay.

Within New York, the name Solvay is unique.

Beyond New York, we know of two 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 Solvay [Cook County].
    • Michigan
      • Kent 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 Solvay [Kent County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Solvay ...

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.

  • Amboy
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Amboy is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amboy
  • Galeville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Galeville is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galeville
  • Garden Terrace
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Garden Terrace is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Terrace
  • Kellys Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Kellys Corners is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellys Corners
  • Liverpool
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Long Branch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Long Branch is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Orchard Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Orchard Village is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchard Village
  • Parson Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Parson Farms is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parson Farms
  • Pleasant View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pleasant View is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • Split Rock
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Split Rock is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Split Rock
  • Stanley Manor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Stanley Manor is located in Onondaga County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stanley Manor

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Solvay and extending to:

  • Syracuse, which is the Seat of Onondaga County, lies just to the East.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 127 miles [204.4 km]<3> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Solvay to Albany, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 290 miles [466.7 km] to the south (S). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,689 miles [9,155.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,409 miles [10,314.3 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,284 miles [6,894.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 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 Solvay 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Solvay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Solvay 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 Solvay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0573, Longitude: -76.2124       In this case, the coordinates for Solvay have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.036 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.129 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.616 degrees.