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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fairchild, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fairchild 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 Fairchild:
    • 42.674437, -82.853033
    • 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 Fairchild
  • 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 Macomb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Macomb County
    • Since Fairchild is near Saint Clair County and also Oakland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Clair County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oakland 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 Fairchild

Communities Also Named Fairchild ...

We found six communities that are also named Fairchild.

Within Michigan, the name Fairchild is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Garland 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 Arkansas community of Fairchild [Garland County].
    • California
      • San Joaquin 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 Fairchild [San Joaquin County].
    • Georgia
      • Decatur 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 Fairchild [Decatur County].
      • Seminole County
      • This Fairchild is located in Seminole County and lies 826 miles [1,329.3 km]<2> to the south of the Fairchild that is located in Macomb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seminole County community of Fairchild.
    • Washington
      • Spokane County
      • This Fairchild is located in Spokane County and lies 1,714 miles [2,758.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Fairchild that is located in Macomb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spokane County community of Fairchild.
    • Wisconsin
      • Eau Claire County
      • This Fairchild is located in Eau Claire County and lies 426 miles [685.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Fairchild that is located in Macomb County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eau Claire County community of Fairchild.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fairchild ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Fairchild once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Fairchild and extending to:

  • Mount Clemens, which is the Seat of Macomb County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Fairchild to Lansing, with an average speed<5>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 5 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 400 miles [643.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,966 miles [9,601.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,698 miles [10,779.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,577 miles [7,366 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Fairchild 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fairchild) 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Fairchild, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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.
<6>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 Fairchild 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 Fairchild. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6744, Longitude: -82.8530    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.284 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.866 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.962 degrees.