RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Grand Traverse County >> Tunk >> 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 Tunk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Tunk 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 Tunk:
    • 44.778868, -85.334773
    • 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 Tunk
  • 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

Curious and Interesting Names Near Tunk ...

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
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Acme have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Acme
    • Acme is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Acme <2>
  • Angel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel
    • Angel is located in Grand Traverse County
    • Angel has also been known as:
    • Angel Station
    • Angell Station
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Angel
    • From Tunk to Angel
  • Devils Elbow
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Elk Rapids
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Fivemile Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fivemile Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivemile Corner
    • Fivemile Corner is located in Grand Traverse County
  • Jacks Landing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jacks Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacks Landing
    • Jacks Landing is located in Grand Traverse County
  • Mabel
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Rapid City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rapid City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rapid City
    • Rapid City is located in Kalkaska County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rapid City <2>
  • Torch River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Torch River have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Torch River
    • Torch River is located in Kalkaska County

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Tunk once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Tunk and extending to:

  • Traverse City, which is the Seat of Grand Traverse County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<4> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Tunk to Traverse City, with an average speed<5> 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 146 miles [235 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 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 588 miles [946.3 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<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,960 miles [9,591.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,703 miles [10,787.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,591 miles [7,388.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

The official website for Grand Traverse County: www.grandtraverse.org/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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 Tunk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Tunk) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tunk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7789, Longitude: -85.3348    
<5>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.
<6>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 Tunk to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.824 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.923 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.472 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