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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Charing Cross, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Charing Cross 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 Charing Cross:
    • 42.571831, -83.220966
    • 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 Charing Cross
  • 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 Oakland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oakland County
    • Since Charing Cross is near Macomb County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macomb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Charing Cross

Communities Also Named Charing Cross ...

We found two communities that are also named Charing Cross.

Within Michigan, the name Charing Cross is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Charing Cross is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 420 miles [675.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Charing Cross that is located in Oakland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Charing Cross.
    • Ontario
      • This Charing Cross lies 62 miles [99.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Charing Cross that is located in Oakland County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Charing Cross ...

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 Charing Cross 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 community such as Charing Cross to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Pontiac, which is the Seat of Oakland County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 68 miles [109.4 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Charing Cross to Lansing, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 410 miles [659.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,985 miles [9,631.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,717 miles [10,810 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,596 miles [7,396.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Charing Cross) 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 Charing Cross 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 Charing Cross. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5718, Longitude: -83.2210       In this case, the coordinates for Charing Cross have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.527 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.126 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.178 degrees.