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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cooks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cooks 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 Cooks:
    • 45.917751, -86.476257
    • 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 Cooks
  • 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 Schoolcraft County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Schoolcraft County
    • Since Cooks is near Delta County and also Alger County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Delta County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alger 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 Cooks

Communities Also Named Cooks ...

We found nine communities that are also named Cooks.

There is one other community in Michigan that is also named Cooks.

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

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Sanilac 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 Michigan community of Cooks [Sanilac County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Montgomery County
      • This Cooks is located in Montgomery County and lies 932 miles [1,499.9 km]<2> to the south of the Cooks that is located in Schoolcraft County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Cooks.
    • Kentucky
      • Rockcastle 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 Kentucky community of Cooks [Rockcastle County].
    • Maine
      • Sagadahoc 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 Maine community of Cooks [Sagadahoc County].
    • New Mexico
      • Grant 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 New Mexico community of Cooks [Grant County].
    • New York
      • Steuben 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 New York community of Cooks [Steuben County].
    • 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 Cooks.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Huntingdon County
      • This Cooks is located in Huntingdon County and lies 577 miles [928.6 km]<2> to the southeast of the Cooks that is located in Schoolcraft County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Huntingdon County community of Cooks.
    • Washington
      • Skamania 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 Washington community of Cooks [Skamania County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cooks ...

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.

  • Copenhagen Beach
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Copenhagen Beach is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen Beach
  • Devils Corner
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Devils Corner is located in Delta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Corner
  • Elkhorn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Elkhorn is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
  • Evergreen Shores
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Evergreen Shores is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Shores
  • Garden Corners
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Garden Corners is located in Delta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Corners
  • Minor Beach
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Minor Beach is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minor Beach
  • Springer
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Springer is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springer
  • Sunset Beach
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sunset Beach is located in Schoolcraft County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach

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

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

  • Manistique, which is the Seat of Schoolcraft County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Cooks to Manistique, 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 239 miles [384.6 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 682 miles [1,097.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,947 miles [9,570.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,694 miles [10,772.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,589 miles [7,385.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Cooks 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cooks) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Cooks 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 Cooks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.9178, Longitude: -86.4763       In this case, the coordinates for Cooks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.545 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.906 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.678 degrees.