RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Grand Traverse County >> Summit City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Summit City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Summit City 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 Summit City:
    • 44.550837, -85.515064
    • 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 Summit City
  • 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 Grand Traverse County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grand Traverse County
    • Since Summit City is near Wexford County and also Kalkaska County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wexford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kalkaska 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 Summit City

Communities Also Named Summit City ...

We found five communities that are also named Summit City.

Within Michigan, the name Summit City is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Alpine County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Alpine County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alpine County community of Summit City.
      • Nevada County
      • This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Summit City [Nevada County].
      • Shasta County
      • This community is historic and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Summit City [Shasta County].
    • Missouri
      • Ozark County
      • This Summit City is located in Ozark County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<2> to the southwest of the Summit City that is located in Grand Traverse County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ozark County community of Summit City.
    • Ohio
      • Summit County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Summit County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summit County community of Summit City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Summit City ...

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.

  • Acme
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Chums Corner
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Chums Corner is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chums Corner
  • Devils Elbow
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Devils Elbow is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Devils Elbow
  • Fivemile Corner
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Fivemile Corner is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivemile Corner
  • Gilbert
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Gilbert is located in Wexford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbert
  • Hilltop
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hilltop is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Houseman
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Houseman is located in Kalkaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houseman
  • Jacks Landing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jacks Landing is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Landing
  • Mesick
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Traverse City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Traverse City, which is the Seat of Grand Traverse County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Summit City to Traverse City, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 134 miles [215.7 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 585 miles [941.5 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,978 miles [9,620.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,720 miles [10,814.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,607 miles [7,414.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Summit City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Summit City) 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 Summit City 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 Summit City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.5508, Longitude: -85.5151       In this case, the coordinates for Summit City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.956 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.038 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.645 degrees.