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 Merrifield:
46.464966, -94.172771
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.
We found six communities that share the name Merrifield.
Within Minnesota, the name Merrifield is unique.
Beyond Minnesota, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Florida
Saint Johns County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Merrifield [Saint Johns County].
Kentucky
Jefferson County
This Merrifield is located in Jefferson County and lies 712 miles [1,145.9 km]<2> to the southeast of the Merrifield that is located in Crow Wing County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Merrifield.
New York
Cayuga County
This Merrifield is located in Cayuga County and lies 898 miles [1,445.2 km]<2> to the east of the Merrifield that is located in Crow Wing County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cayuga County community of Merrifield.
North Dakota
Grand Forks County
This Merrifield is located in Grand Forks County and lies 167 miles [268.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Merrifield that is located in Crow Wing County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grand Forks County community of Merrifield.
Virginia
Fairfax County
This Merrifield is located in Fairfax County and lies 1,004 miles [1,615.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Merrifield that is located in Crow Wing County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Merrifield.
Portsmouth City
This Merrifield is located in Portsmouth City and lies 1,127 miles [1,813.7 km] to the east southeast of the Merrifield that is located in Crow Wing County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portsmouth City community of Merrifield.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Merrifield ...
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.
Breezy Point (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Breezy Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Merrifield to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Merrifield and extending to:
Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 116 miles [186.7 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Merrifield to Saint Paul, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,011 miles [1,627 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,174 miles [9,936.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,933 miles [11,157.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,852 miles [7,808.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Footnotes ...
<1>
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 Merrifield 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.
<2>
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- Merrifield) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Merrifield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4650, Longitude: -94.1728 In this case, the coordinates for Merrifield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<3>
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.
<4>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Merrifield 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 318.94 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.09 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.746 degrees.