RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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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 Lapeer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lapeer 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 Lapeer:
    • 43.046972, -83.324945
    • 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 Lapeer
  • 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 Lapeer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lapeer County
    • Since Lapeer is near Genesee County and also Oakland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Genesee 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 Lapeer

Communities Also Named Lapeer ...

We found three communities that are also named Lapeer.

Within Michigan, the name Lapeer is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Douglas 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 Kansas community of Lapeer [Douglas County].
    • Nebraska
      • Cheyenne 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 Lapeer [Cheyenne County].
    • New York
      • Cortland County
      • This Lapeer is located in Cortland County and lies 368 miles [592.2 km]<2> to the east of the Lapeer that is located in Lapeer County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cortland County community of Lapeer.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lapeer ...

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.

  • Atlas
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Atlas is located in Genesee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Atlas
  • Elba
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Elba is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elba
  • Farmers Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Farmers Creek is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmers Creek
  • Five Lakes
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Five Lakes is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Lakes
  • Goodland
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Goodland is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodland
  • Hunters Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Hunters Creek is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Creek
  • Kings Mill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Kings Mill is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Mill
  • Otter Lake
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Rogersville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Rogersville is located in Genesee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogersville
  • Thornville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Thornville is located in Lapeer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornville

How Far From Lapeer to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Lapeer to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could walk a straight line from Lapeer to Lansing, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 435 miles [700.1 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 5,967 miles [9,603 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,701 miles [10,784.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,581 miles [7,372.4 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 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 Lapeer 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Lapeer) 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 Lapeer 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 Lapeer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0470, Longitude: -83.3249       In this case, the coordinates for Lapeer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.573 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.249 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.061 degrees.