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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Butternut, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Butternut 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 Butternut:
    • 43.183679, -84.915736
    • 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 Butternut
  • 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 Montcalm County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Montcalm County
    • Since Butternut is near Ionia County and also Gratiot County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ionia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gratiot 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 Butternut

Communities Also Named Butternut ...

We found three communities that are also named Butternut.

Within Michigan, the name Butternut is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Blue Earth County
      • This Butternut is located in Blue Earth County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Butternut that is located in Montcalm County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blue Earth County community of Butternut.
    • Vermont
      • Rutland County
      • This Butternut is located in Rutland County and lies 588 miles [946.3 km]<1> to the east of the Butternut that is located in Montcalm County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rutland County community of Butternut.
    • Wisconsin
      • Ashland County
      • This Butternut is located in Ashland County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Butternut that is located in Montcalm County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashland County community of Butternut.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Butternut ...

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.

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

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

  • Stanton, which is the Seat of Montcalm County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Butternut to Stanton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 36 miles [57.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 505 miles [812.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,020 miles [9,688.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,757 miles [10,874.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,640 miles [7,467.4 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 from Point A (ie- Butternut) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Butternut 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 Butternut. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.1837, Longitude: -84.9157    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.611 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.446 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.806 degrees.