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 Orchard Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Beach 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 Orchard Beach:
    • 45.556956, -84.464478
    • 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 Orchard Beach
  • 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 Cheboygan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cheboygan County
    • Since Orchard Beach is near Presque Isle County and also Mackinac County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Presque Isle County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mackinac 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 Orchard Beach

Communities Also Named Orchard Beach ...

We found five communities that are also named Orchard Beach.

There is one other community in Michigan that is also named Orchard Beach.

Beyond Michigan, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Oakland 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 Michigan community of Orchard Beach [Oakland County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 598 miles [962.4 km]<2> to the southeast of the Orchard Beach that is located in Cheboygan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Orchard Beach.
    • Ohio
      • Erie County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Erie County and lies 304 miles [489.2 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Orchard Beach that is located in Cheboygan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Orchard Beach.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Orchard Beach.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Erie County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Erie County and lies 324 miles [521.4 km]<2> to the southeast of the Orchard Beach that is located in Cheboygan County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Orchard Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Beach ...

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.

  • Aloha
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Aloha is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aloha
  • Birchwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Birchwood is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
  • Cold Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Cold Springs is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • Fingerboard Corner
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Fingerboard Corner is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fingerboard Corner
  • Grand View
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand View is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View
  • High Banks
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • High Banks is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Banks
  • Indian River
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Indianville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Indianville is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianville
  • Long Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Long Point is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Point
  • Royal Oak Beach
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Royal Oak Beach is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Oak Beach
  • Silver Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Silver Beach is located in Cheboygan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Beach

How Far From Orchard Beach 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 community such as Orchard Beach to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Cheboygan, which is the Seat of Cheboygan County, lies just to the North.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 195 miles [313.8 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Orchard Beach to Lansing, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 595 miles [957.6 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,893 miles [9,483.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,636 miles [10,679.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,525 miles [7,282.3 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 Orchard Beach 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' (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- Orchard Beach) 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 Orchard Beach 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 Orchard Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5570, Longitude: -84.4645       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.195 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.33 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.736 degrees.