RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Mercer County >> Harbor Point >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Harbor Point, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harbor Point 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 Harbor Point:
    • 40.540047, -84.539399
    • 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 Harbor Point
  • 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer County
    • Since Harbor Point is near Auglaize County and also Van Wert County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Auglaize County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Van Wert 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 Harbor Point

Communities Also Named Harbor Point ...

We found three communities that are also named Harbor Point.

Within Ohio, the name Harbor Point is unique.

Beyond Ohio, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Marin County
      • This Harbor Point is located in Marin County and lies 2,023 miles [3,255.7 km]<1> to the west of the Harbor Point that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of Harbor Point.
    • Florida
      • Volusia 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 Harbor Point [Volusia County].
    • Michigan
      • Emmet County
      • This Harbor Point is located in Emmet County and lies 337 miles [542.3 km]<1> to the north of the Harbor Point that is located in Mercer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Emmet County community of Harbor Point.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Harbor Point ...

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.

  • Bass Landing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Bass Landing is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bass Landing
  • Club Island
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Club Island is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Club Island
  • Coldwater Beach
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Coldwater Beach is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater Beach
  • Duckfoot Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Duckfoot Landing is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Duckfoot Landing
  • Idlewild
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Idlewild is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
  • Lees Landing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Lees Landing is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Landing
  • Mariners Point
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Mariners Point is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mariners Point
  • Montezuma
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Montezuma is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montezuma
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 158 people
  • Sandy Beach
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Sandy Beach is located in Auglaize County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Beach
  • Turtle Neck Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Turtle Neck Point is located in Mercer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Neck Point

How Far From Harbor Point 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 Harbor Point to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Celina, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 90 miles [144.8 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Harbor Point to Columbus, 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 most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 414 miles [666.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,129 miles [9,863.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,857 miles [11,035.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,735 miles [7,620.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Harbor Point) 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 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 Harbor Point 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 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 Harbor Point 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 Harbor Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5400, Longitude: -84.5394       In this case, the coordinates for Harbor Point have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.435 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.858 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.479 degrees.