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










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Michigan

The Commemorative Quarter for Michigan





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smiths Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smiths 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 Smiths Creek:
    • 42.912434, -82.603691
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Smiths Creek
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Smiths Creek ...

We found three communities that share the name Smiths Creek.

Within Michigan, the name Smiths Creek is unique.

Beyond Michigan, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Carter County
      • This Smiths Creek is located in Carter County and lies 309 miles [497.3 km]<1> to the south of the Smiths Creek that is located in Saint Clair County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carter County community of Smiths Creek.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Smiths Creek lies 867 miles [1,395.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Smiths Creek that is located in Saint Clair County.
    • Virginia
      • Washington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Smiths Creek [Washington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smiths 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.

  • Columbus
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Emmett
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Gardendale
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Lambs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Marysville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Mooretown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Muttonville ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Oil City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Oil City came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
  • Rattle Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rattle Run have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rattle Run
    • Rattle Run is located in Saint Clair County
  • Ruby
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • South Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Park have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Park
    • South Park is located in Saint Clair County

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

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

  • Port Huron, which is the Seat of Saint Clair County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Smiths Creek to Port Huron, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 99 miles [159.3 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 401 miles [645.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,945 miles [9,567.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,678 miles [10,747.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,557 miles [7,333.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Smiths Creek. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Saint Clair County: www.stclaircounty.org/

The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Smiths Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Smiths Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.9124, Longitude: -82.6037    
<2>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 Smiths 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.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<6>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<7>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.
<8>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 Smiths Creek to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.111 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.706 degrees.
<11>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.754 degrees.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025