RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Ohio >> Erie County >> Orchard Beach >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Orchard Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard 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 Orchard Beach:
    • 41.406435, -82.409332
    • 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 Orchard 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 Erie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Erie County
    • Since Orchard Beach is near Lorain County and also Huron County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lorain County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Huron 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 Orchard Beach

Communities Also Named Orchard Beach ...

We found five communities that are also named Orchard Beach.

Within Ohio, the name Orchard Beach is unique.

Beyond Ohio, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 346 miles [556.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Orchard Beach that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Orchard Beach.
    • Michigan
      • Cheboygan County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Cheboygan County and lies 304 miles [489.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Orchard Beach that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cheboygan County community of Orchard Beach.
      • Oakland 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 Michigan community of Orchard Beach [Oakland County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Orchard Beach.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Erie County
      • This Orchard Beach is located in Erie County and lies 144 miles [231.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Orchard Beach that is located in Erie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Orchard Beach.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard 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.

  • Bluebird Beach
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Bluebird Beach is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bluebird Beach
  • Ceylon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ceylon is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ceylon
  • Florence
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Florence is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
  • Joppa
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Joppa is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joppa
  • Rugby ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Rugby is located in Lorain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rugby
  • Ruggles Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Ruggles Beach is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruggles Beach
  • Sunnyside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Sunnyside is located in Lorain County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Volunteer Bay
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Volunteer Bay is located in Erie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Volunteer Bay

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

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

  • Sandusky, which is the Seat of Erie County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Orchard Beach to Sandusky, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 103 miles [165.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 332 miles [534.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,006 miles [9,665.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,733 miles [10,835.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,610 miles [7,419.1 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Orchard 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 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 Orchard 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 Orchard 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 Orchard Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4064, Longitude: -82.4093       In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.054 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.415 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.194 degrees.