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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Haverstraw, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Haverstraw 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 West Haverstraw:
    • 41.206148, -73.988641
    • 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 West Haverstraw
  • 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 Rockland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rockland County
    • Since West Haverstraw is near Westchester County and also Orange County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westchester 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 West Haverstraw

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Haverstraw ...

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.

  • Cedar Flats
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Flats is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Flats
  • Chimney Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Chimney Corners is located in Westchester County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Corners
  • Felters Corners
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Felters Corners is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Felters Corners
  • Happy Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Happy Valley is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Valley
  • Jones Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jones Point is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Point
  • King's Ferry
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • King's Ferry is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King's Ferry
  • Ladentown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Ladentown is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladentown
  • New City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • New City is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City
  • New City Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • New City Park is located in Rockland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New City Park
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • New Square
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
      • New Square is located in Rockland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Square
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,014 people
    • Quaker Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Quaker Park is located in Rockland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quaker Park
    • Rockland Lake
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Rockland Lake is located in Rockland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland Lake
    • Stony Point
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Summit Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Summit Park is located in Rockland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Park
    • Willow Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Willow Grove is located in Rockland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Grove

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Haverstraw and extending to:

  • New City, which is the Seat of Rockland County, lies just to the South.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 100 miles [160.9 km]<2> to the north (N). If you could drive a straight line from West Haverstraw to Albany, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 226 miles [363.7 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,673 miles [9,129.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,381 miles [10,269.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,257 miles [6,851 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- West Haverstraw) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 West Haverstraw 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 West Haverstraw. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.2061, Longitude: -73.9886       In this case, the coordinates for West Haverstraw have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.879 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.525 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.433 degrees.