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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Fostoria, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fostoria 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 Fostoria:
    • 43.253359, -83.371895
    • 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 Fostoria
  • 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 Tuscola County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuscola County
    • Since Fostoria is near Lapeer County and also Genesee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lapeer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Genesee 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 Fostoria

Communities Also Named Fostoria ...

We found seven communities that are also named Fostoria.

Within Michigan, the name Fostoria is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Lowndes County
      • This Fostoria is located in Lowndes County and lies 793 miles [1,276.2 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lowndes County community of Fostoria.
    • Iowa
      • Clay County
      • This Fostoria is located in Clay County and lies 592 miles [952.7 km]<1> to the west of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Fostoria.
    • Kansas
      • Pottawatomie County
      • This Fostoria is located in Pottawatomie County and lies 729 miles [1,173.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pottawatomie County community of Fostoria.
    • Ohio
      • Seneca County
      • This Fostoria is located in Seneca County and lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<1> to the south of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seneca County community of Fostoria.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Blair County
      • This Fostoria is located in Blair County and lies 316 miles [508.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blair County community of Fostoria.
    • Texas
      • Montgomery County
      • This Fostoria is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,103 miles [1,775.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Fostoria that is located in Tuscola County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Fostoria.
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Fostoria [Fairfax County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fostoria ...

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.

  • Denmark Junction
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Denmark Junction is located in Tuscola County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark Junction
  • Elba
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Elba is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elba
  • Five Lakes
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Five Lakes is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Lakes
  • Goodland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Goodland is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
  • Hunters Creek
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Hunters Creek is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Creek
  • Kings Mill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Kings Mill is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Mill
  • Mayville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Otter Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Pine Run
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pine Run is located in Genesee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Run
  • Richville
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Rogersville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Rogersville is located in Genesee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogersville
  • Silverwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)

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

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

  • Caro, which is the Seat of Tuscola County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Fostoria to Caro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 69 miles [111 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 446 miles [717.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,959 miles [9,590.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,694 miles [10,772.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,575 miles [7,362.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Fostoria) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Fostoria 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.
<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 Fostoria 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 Fostoria. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2534, Longitude: -83.3719       In this case, the coordinates for Fostoria have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.594 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.304 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.011 degrees.