RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Washtenaw County >> Paint Creek >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Paint Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Paint Creek 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 Paint Creek:
    • 42.157541, -83.581604
    • 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 Paint Creek
  • 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 Washtenaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washtenaw County
    • Since Paint Creek is near Wayne County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Paint Creek

Communities Also Named Paint Creek ...

We found five communities that are also named Paint Creek.

Within Michigan, the name Paint Creek is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Bourbon 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 Paint Creek [Bourbon County].
    • Kentucky
      • Powell County
      • This Paint Creek is located in Powell County and lies 295 miles [474.8 km]<2> to the south of the Paint Creek that is located in Washtenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Powell County community of Paint Creek.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Cambria 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 Pennsylvania community of Paint Creek [Cambria County].
    • Texas
      • Haskell County
      • This Paint Creek is located in Haskell County and lies 1,078 miles [1,734.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Paint Creek that is located in Washtenaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Haskell County community of Paint Creek.
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha 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 West Virginia community of Paint Creek [Kanawha County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Paint Creek ...

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.

  • Cherry Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cherry Hill is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherry Hill
  • French Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • French Landing is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Landing
  • Lincoln
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lincoln is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
  • London
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • London is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London
  • Martinsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Martinsville is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsville
  • Saline
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Saline is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,350 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saline <3>
  • Stony Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Stony Creek is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Creek
  • Superior
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Superior is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Superior
  • Willow
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Willow is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow
  • Willow Run
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Willow Run is located in Washtenaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Run

How Far From Paint Creek to ...

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

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

  • Ann Arbor, which is the Seat of Washtenaw County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Paint Creek to Ann Arbor, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 63 miles [101.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 410 miles [659.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,017 miles [9,683.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,749 miles [10,861.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,628 miles [7,448 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 Paint Creek 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Paint Creek) 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 Paint Creek 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 Paint Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1575, Longitude: -83.5816       In this case, the coordinates for Paint Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.777 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.348 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.496 degrees.