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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Free Soil, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Free Soil 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 Free Soil:
- 44.107228, -86.214059
- 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 Free Soil
- 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 Mason County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
- Since Free Soil is near Manistee County and also Lake County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Manistee County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Free Soil
Curious and Interesting Names Near Free Soil ...
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.
- Amber
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Dublin
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Elm Flats ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Filer City
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Fountain
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Irons
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Lincoln
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Lincoln is located in Mason County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
- Little Manistee
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Little Manistee is located in Lake County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Manistee
- Newland
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Newland is located in Manistee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Newland
- Piney Ridge
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
- Sugar Grove
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Free Soil 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 village such as Free Soil to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Free Soil and extending to:
- Ludington, which is the Seat of Mason County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Free Soil to Ludington, with an average speed<3> 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 four to five hours.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 126 miles [202.8 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 594 miles [956 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,024 miles [9,694.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,766 miles [10,888.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,653 miles [7,488.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Free Soil) 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 Free Soil 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 Free Soil. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1072, Longitude: -86.2141 |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.443 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.525 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.157 degrees. |
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