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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elmer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elmer 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 Elmer:
    • 43.418840, -82.928687
    • 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 Elmer
  • 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 Sanilac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sanilac County
    • Since Elmer is near Tuscola County and also Lapeer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscola County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lapeer 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 Elmer

Communities Also Named Elmer ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named Elmer.

Within Michigan, the name Elmer is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Kern 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 California community of Elmer [Kern County].
    • Georgia
      • Screven 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 Georgia community of Elmer [Screven County].
    • Kansas
      • Reno County
      • This Elmer is located in Reno County and lies 869 miles [1,398.5 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reno County community of Elmer.
    • Louisiana
      • Lafourche Parish
      • This Elmer is located in Lafourche Parish and lies 1,035 miles [1,665.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafourche Parish community of Elmer.
      • Rapides Parish
      • This Elmer is located in Rapides Parish and lies 1,001 miles [1,611 km] to the southwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rapides Parish community of Elmer.
    • Maryland
      • Montgomery County
      • This Elmer is located in Montgomery County and lies 408 miles [656.6 km]<2> to the southeast of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Elmer.
    • Minnesota
      • Clay 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 Elmer [Clay County].
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Elmer is located in Saint Louis County and lies 541 miles [870.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Elmer.
    • Missouri
      • Macon County
      • This Elmer is located in Macon County and lies 554 miles [891.6 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macon County community of Elmer.
    • Nebraska
      • Hayes 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 Nebraska community of Elmer [Hayes County].
    • New Jersey
      • Salem 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 Jersey community of Elmer [Salem County].
    • North Carolina
      • Lenoir 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 North Carolina community of Elmer [Lenoir County].
      • Yancey 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 North Carolina community of Elmer [Yancey County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Jackson County
      • This Elmer is located in Jackson County and lies 1,073 miles [1,726.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Elmer.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This Elmer is located in Potter County and lies 288 miles [463.5 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Elmer that is located in Sanilac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of Elmer.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elmer ...

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 Elmer 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 Elmer to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Sandusky, which is the Seat of Sanilac County, lies just to the East.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 94 miles [151.3 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Elmer to Lansing, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 437 miles [703.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,935 miles [9,551.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,669 miles [10,732.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,550 miles [7,322.5 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 Elmer 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- Elmer) 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 Elmer 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 Elmer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4188, Longitude: -82.9287    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.296 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.992 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.732 degrees.