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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Shaytown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Shaytown 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 Shaytown:
    • 42.704202, -84.976106
    • 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 Shaytown
  • 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 Eaton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Eaton County
    • Since Shaytown is near Ionia County and also Barry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ionia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barry 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 Shaytown

Communities Also Named Shaytown ...

We found two communities that are also named Shaytown.

Within Michigan, the name Shaytown is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • New Jersey
      • Sussex County
      • This Shaytown is located in Sussex County and lies 531 miles [854.6 km]<1> to the east of the Shaytown that is located in Eaton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Shaytown.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This Shaytown is located in Potter County and lies 351 miles [564.9 km]<1> to the east of the Shaytown that is located in Eaton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of Shaytown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Shaytown ...

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.

  • Charlotte
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Chester
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Chester is located in Eaton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chester
  • Coats Grove
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Coats Grove is located in Barry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coats Grove
  • Eagle
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Frost Corners
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Frost Corners is located in Ionia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frost Corners
  • Grand Ledge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Little Venice
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Little Venice is located in Eaton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Venice
  • Maple Grove
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Maple Grove is located in Barry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Needmore
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Needmore is located in Eaton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needmore
  • Potterville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Vermontville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Charlotte, which is the Seat of Eaton County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Shaytown to Charlotte, with an average speed<3> 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 21 miles [33.8 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 490 miles [788.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,045 miles [9,728.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,781 miles [10,913 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,662 miles [7,502.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Shaytown) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Shaytown 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 Shaytown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7042, Longitude: -84.9761       In this case, the coordinates for Shaytown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.667 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.439 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.996 degrees.