RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Antrim County >> Antrim >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Antrim, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Antrim 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 Antrim:
    • 44.890007, -85.073941
    • 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 Antrim
  • 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 Antrim County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Antrim County
    • Since Antrim is near Kalkaska County and also Crawford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kalkaska County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford 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 Antrim

Communities Also Named Antrim ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Antrim.

Within Michigan, the name Antrim is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of thirteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these thirteen communities, eleven are located in the United States and four are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Antrim [Marion County].
    • Kansas
      • Pratt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Antrim [Pratt County].
      • Stafford County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Antrim [Stafford County].
    • Louisiana
      • Bossier Parish
      • This Antrim is located in Bossier Parish and lies 949 miles [1,527.3 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bossier Parish community of Antrim.
    • Minnesota
      • Watonwan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Antrim [Watonwan County].
    • Missouri
      • Wright County
      • This Antrim is located in Wright County and lies 661 miles [1,063.8 km]<2> to the southwest of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wright County community of Antrim.
    • New Hampshire
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Antrim is located in Hillsborough County and lies 664 miles [1,068.6 km]<2> to the east of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Antrim.
    • New York
      • Rockland County
      • This Antrim is located in Rockland County and lies 609 miles [980.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockland County community of Antrim.
    • Nova Scotia
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Ohio
      • Guernsey County
      • This Antrim is located in Guernsey County and lies 379 miles [609.9 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guernsey County community of Antrim.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Antrim.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Tioga County
      • This Antrim is located in Tioga County and lies 451 miles [725.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tioga County community of Antrim.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Antrim is located in Fairfax County and lies 578 miles [930.2 km]<2> to the southeast of the Antrim that is located in Antrim County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Antrim.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Antrim ...

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.

  • Clam Lake ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Clam Lake is located in Antrim County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Lake
  • Clam River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Clam River is located in Antrim County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam River
  • Cotton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Cotton is located in Kalkaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton
  • Graves Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Graves Crossing is located in Antrim County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graves Crossing
  • Green River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Green River is located in Antrim County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green River
  • Rapid City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Snowflake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Snowflake is located in Antrim County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snowflake
  • Torch River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Torch River is located in Kalkaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Torch River

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

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

  • Bellaire, which is the Seat of Antrim County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 151 miles [243 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Antrim to Lansing, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 584 miles [939.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,946 miles [9,569.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,688 miles [10,763.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,576 miles [7,364.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Antrim 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.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Antrim) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Antrim 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 Antrim. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8900, Longitude: -85.0739       In this case, the coordinates for Antrim have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.643 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.735 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.297 degrees.