RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Van Buren County >> Woodland Beach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Woodland Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Woodland Beach 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 Woodland Beach:
    • 42.081987, -86.191684
    • 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 Woodland Beach
  • 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 Van Buren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Van Buren County
    • Since Woodland Beach is near Cass County and also Berrien County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cass County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Berrien 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 Woodland Beach

Communities Also Named Woodland Beach ...

We found five communities that are also named Woodland Beach.

There is one other community in Michigan that is also named Woodland Beach.

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

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Monroe County
      • This Woodland Beach is located in Monroe County and lies 147 miles [236.6 km]<1> to the east of the Woodland Beach that is located in Van Buren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Woodland Beach.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Kent County
      • This Woodland Beach is located in Kent County and lies 591 miles [951.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Woodland Beach that is located in Van Buren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kent County community of Woodland Beach.
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Woodland Beach is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 546 miles [878.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Woodland Beach that is located in Van Buren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Woodland Beach.
    • Ontario
      • This Woodland Beach lies 356 miles [572.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Woodland Beach that is located in Van Buren County.
    • Washington
      • Island 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 Washington community of Woodland Beach [Island County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Woodland Beach ...

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.

  • Five Mile Corners
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Five Mile Corners is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Mile Corners
  • Fritzburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Fritzburg is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fritzburg
  • Hartman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hartman is located in Berrien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartman
  • Indian Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Indian Lake is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lake
  • Maple Island
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Maple Island is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Island
  • Naomi
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Naomi is located in Berrien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naomi
  • Pearl Grange
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Pearl Grange is located in Berrien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pearl Grange
  • Sandy Beach
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Sandy Beach is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy Beach
  • Shanghai Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Shanghai Corners is located in Berrien County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai Corners
  • Sister Lakes
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Sister Lakes is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sister Lakes
  • Twin Lakes
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Twin Lakes is located in Cass County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes

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

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

  • Paw Paw, which is the Seat of Van Buren County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Woodland Beach to Paw Paw, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 94 miles [151.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 528 miles [849.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,119 miles [9,847.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,856 miles [11,033.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,738 miles [7,625.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Woodland Beach) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Woodland Beach 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>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 Woodland Beach 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 Woodland Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0820, Longitude: -86.1917       In this case, the coordinates for Woodland Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.481 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.273 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.795 degrees.