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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sylvan Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sylvan Lake 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 Sylvan Lake:
    • 41.609679, -73.736313
    • 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 Sylvan Lake
  • 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 Dutchess County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dutchess County
    • Since Sylvan Lake is near Putnam County and also Orange County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Putnam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orange 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 Sylvan Lake

Communities Also Named Sylvan Lake ...

We found eight communities that are also named Sylvan Lake.

Within New York, the name Sylvan Lake is unique.

Beyond New York, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alberta
      • This Sylvan Lake lies 2,008 miles [3,231.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Sylvan Lake that is located in Dutchess County.
    • Florida
      • Orange 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 Florida community of Sylvan Lake [Orange County].
      • Seminole County
      • This Sylvan Lake is located in Seminole County and lies 982 miles [1,580.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Sylvan Lake that is located in Dutchess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seminole County community of Sylvan Lake.
    • Illinois
      • Lake County
      • This Sylvan Lake is located in Lake County and lies 735 miles [1,182.9 km]<1> to the west of the Sylvan Lake that is located in Dutchess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Sylvan Lake.
    • Michigan
      • Oakland County
      • This Sylvan Lake is located in Oakland County and lies 495 miles [796.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Sylvan Lake that is located in Dutchess County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oakland County community of Sylvan Lake.
    • Minnesota
      • Cass 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 Minnesota community of Sylvan Lake [Cass County].
    • New Jersey
      • Burlington 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 New Jersey community of Sylvan Lake [Burlington County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Langlade 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 Wisconsin community of Sylvan Lake [Langlade County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sylvan Lake ...

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 Sylvan Lake 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 community such as Sylvan Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Poughkeepsie, which is the Seat of Dutchess County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sylvan Lake to Poughkeepsie, 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 72 miles [115.9 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 255 miles [410.4 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 5,646 miles [9,086.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,355 miles [10,227.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,231 miles [6,809.1 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- Sylvan Lake) 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 Sylvan Lake 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 Sylvan Lake 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 Sylvan Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6097, Longitude: -73.7363    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.681 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.368 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.136 degrees.