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 Vandalia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vandalia 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 Vandalia:
    • 42.096175, -78.579748
    • 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 Vandalia
  • 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 Cattaraugus County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cattaraugus County
    • Since Vandalia is near McKean County and also Allegany County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McKean County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Allegany 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 Vandalia

Communities Also Named Vandalia ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Vandalia.

Within New York, the name Vandalia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Fayette County
      • This Vandalia is located in Fayette County and lies 592 miles [952.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Vandalia.
    • Indiana
      • Clay 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 Indiana community of Vandalia [Clay County].
      • Owen County
      • This Vandalia is located in Owen County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Owen County community of Vandalia.
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Vandalia is located in Jasper County and lies 757 miles [1,218.3 km]<1> to the west of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Vandalia.
    • Michigan
      • Cass County
      • This Vandalia is located in Cass County and lies 376 miles [605.1 km]<1> to the west of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cass County community of Vandalia.
    • Missouri
      • Audrain County
      • This Vandalia is located in Audrain County and lies 701 miles [1,128.2 km]<1> to the west of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Audrain County community of Vandalia.
    • Montana
      • Valley County
      • This Vandalia is located in Valley County and lies 1,434 miles [2,307.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Valley County community of Vandalia.
    • North Carolina
      • Guilford County
      • This Vandalia is located in Guilford County and lies 424 miles [682.4 km]<1> to the south of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guilford County community of Vandalia.
    • Ohio
      • Montgomery County
      • This Vandalia is located in Montgomery County and lies 330 miles [531.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Vandalia.
    • Texas
      • Red River County
      • This Vandalia is located in Red River County and lies 1,065 miles [1,714 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Red River County community of Vandalia.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Vandalia is located in Kanawha County and lies 305 miles [490.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Vandalia.
      • Lewis County
      • This Vandalia is located in Lewis County and lies 238 miles [383 km] to the south southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Vandalia.
      • Roane County
      • This Vandalia is located in Roane County and lies 275 miles [442.6 km] to the southwest of the Vandalia that is located in Cattaraugus County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roane County community of Vandalia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vandalia ...

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.

  • Boardmanville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Boardmanville is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boardmanville
  • Chipmunk
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Chipmunk is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chipmunk
  • Four Mile
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Four Mile is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Mile
  • Gardens of Brother Leo
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Gardens of Brother Leo is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gardens of Brother Leo
  • Harrisburg
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Harrisburg is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Homer Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Homer Hill is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer Hill
  • Kill Buck
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Knapp Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Knapp Creek is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knapp Creek
  • Limestone
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • New Ireland ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • New Ireland is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Ireland
    • New Ireland has also been known as:
    • Irish Town
    • Little Ireland
  • Riverside Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Riverside Junction is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Junction
  • Rock City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Rock City is located in Cattaraugus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock City
  • Tuna
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Tuna is located in McKean County (PA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tuna

How Far From Vandalia to ...

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

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

  • Little Valley, which is the Seat of Cattaraugus County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vandalia to Little Valley, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 248 miles [399.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 235 miles [378.2 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,824 miles [9,372.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,546 miles [10,534.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,421 miles [7,114.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Vandalia) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Vandalia 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 Vandalia 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 Vandalia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0962, Longitude: -78.5797       In this case, the coordinates for Vandalia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.602 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.743 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.138 degrees.