RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Piscataquis County >> Prairie >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Prairie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie 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 Prairie:
    • 45.408661, -69.063932
    • 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 Prairie
  • 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 Piscataquis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Piscataquis County
    • Since Prairie is near Penobscot County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Penobscot 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 Prairie

Communities Also Named Prairie ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Prairie.

Within Maine, the name Prairie is unique.

Beyond Maine, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Wilcox County
      • This Prairie is located in Wilcox County and lies 1,341 miles [2,158.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilcox County community of Prairie.
    • Colorado
      • Washington County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Washington County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Prairie.
    • Florida
      • Polk County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Prairie [Polk County].
    • Idaho
      • Elmore County
      • This Prairie is located in Elmore County and lies 2,263 miles [3,641.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elmore County community of Prairie.
    • Illinois
      • Randolph County
      • This Prairie is located in Randolph County and lies 1,180 miles [1,899 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Prairie.
    • Indiana
      • Posey County
      • This Prairie is located in Posey County and lies 1,100 miles [1,770.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Posey County community of Prairie.
    • Michigan
      • Ionia County
      • This Prairie is located in Ionia County and lies 806 miles [1,297.1 km]<1> to the west of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ionia County community of Prairie.
    • Mississippi
      • Monroe County
      • This Prairie is located in Monroe County and lies 1,309 miles [2,106.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Prairie.
    • Missouri
      • Mississippi County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Prairie [Mississippi County].
    • Nebraska
      • Polk County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Polk County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Polk County community of Prairie.
    • Oklahoma
      • Grant County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Prairie [Grant County].
    • Washington
      • Skagit County
      • This Prairie is located in Skagit County and lies 2,462 miles [3,962.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie that is located in Piscataquis County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Skagit County community of Prairie.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie ...

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.

  • Derby
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Derby is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby
  • Elliottsville
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Elliottsville is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliottsville
  • Hardy
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Hardy is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hardy
  • Knights Landing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Knights Landing is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knights Landing
  • Lake View
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Lake View is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View
  • Lake View Plantation
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Lake View Plantation is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake View Plantation
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 86 people
  • Packard Landing
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Packard Landing is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Packard Landing
  • Packards
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Packards is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Packards
  • Parson Landing
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Parson Landing is located in Piscataquis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parson Landing

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

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

  • Dover - Foxcroft, which is the Seat of Piscataquis County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Prairie to Dover - Foxcroft, 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 five to six hours.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 83 miles [133.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 606 miles [975.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,305 miles [8,537.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,022 miles [9,691.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,897 miles [6,271.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Prairie) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Prairie, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Prairie 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.
<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 Prairie 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 Prairie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.4087, Longitude: -69.0639       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 302.224 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 298.138 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 297.956 degrees.