RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
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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 Southfield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Southfield 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 Southfield:
    • 42.473371, -83.221165
    • 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 Southfield
  • 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 Southfield ...

We found four communities that share the name Southfield.

Within Michigan, the name Southfield is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Fairfield County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Fairfield County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Southfield.
    • Louisiana
      • Caddo Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Southfield [Caddo Parish].
    • Massachusetts
      • Berkshire County
      • This Southfield is located in Berkshire County and lies 510 miles [820.8 km]<3> to the east of the Southfield that is located in Oakland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Berkshire County community of Southfield.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Southfield lies 901 miles [1,450 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Southfield that is located in Oakland County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Southfield ...

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.

  • Beech
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beech have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech
    • Beech is located in Wayne County
  • Big Beaver
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Beaver have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Beaver
    • Big Beaver is located in Oakland County
  • Charing Cross
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charing Cross have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charing Cross
    • Charing Cross is located in Oakland County
  • Clarenceville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarenceville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarenceville
    • Clarenceville is located in Oakland County
  • Elm
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elm have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm
    • Elm is located in Wayne County
  • Ferndale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Franklin
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
    • Franklin is located in Oakland County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,221 people
    • Franklin has also been known as:
    • Franklin Village
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Franklin <5>
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Royal Oak
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)

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

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

  • Pontiac, which is the Seat of Oakland County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<3> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Southfield to Pontiac, with an average speed<6> 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 70 miles [112.7 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 407 miles [655 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,989 miles [9,638.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,721 miles [10,816.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,600 miles [7,403 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

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

The official website for Oakland County: www.co.oakland.mi.us/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Southfield, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 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 Southfield 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Southfield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Southfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4734, Longitude: -83.2212    
<4>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.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>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.
<7>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 Southfield to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.531 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.116 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.212 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024