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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rusk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rusk 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 Rusk:
    • 42.957319, -86.012823
    • 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 Rusk
  • 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 Ottawa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ottawa County
    • Since Rusk is near Kent County and also Muskegon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kent County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Muskegon 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 Rusk

Communities Also Named Rusk ...

We found eight communities that are also named Rusk.

Within Michigan, the name Rusk is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Martin County
      • This Rusk is located in Martin County and lies 306 miles [492.5 km]<1> to the south of the Rusk that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Martin County community of Rusk.
    • Iowa
      • Pocahontas County
      • This Rusk is located in Pocahontas County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<1> to the west of the Rusk that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pocahontas County community of Rusk.
    • North Carolina
      • Surry County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Rusk [Surry County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Woods County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Rusk [Woods County].
    • Tennessee
      • Johnson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Rusk [Johnson County].
    • Texas
      • Cherokee County
      • This Rusk is located in Cherokee County and lies 918 miles [1,477.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rusk that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Rusk.
    • West Virginia
      • Ritchie County
      • This Rusk is located in Ritchie County and lies 360 miles [579.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Rusk that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ritchie County community of Rusk.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dunn County
      • This Rusk is located in Dunn County and lies 319 miles [513.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rusk that is located in Ottawa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dunn County community of Rusk.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rusk ...

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.

  • Beaverdam
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Beaverdam is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaverdam
  • Clark Corners
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Clark Corners is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark Corners
  • Crisp
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Crisp is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Grand Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Grand Valley is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Valley
  • Harlem
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Harlem is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem
  • New Holland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • New Holland is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Holland
  • Pearline
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Pearline is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearline
  • Pine Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Creek is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
  • Snug Harbor
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Snug Harbor is located in Ottawa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Snug Harbor

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

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

  • Grand Haven, which is the Seat of Ottawa County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rusk to Grand Haven, 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 75 miles [120.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 545 miles [877.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,071 miles [9,770.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,810 miles [10,959.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,694 miles [7,554.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Rusk) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Rusk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Rusk 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.
<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 Rusk 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 Rusk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9573, Longitude: -86.0128    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.344 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.244 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.43 degrees.