RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Marinette County >> Porterfield >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Porterfield, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Porterfield 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 Porterfield:
    • 45.154425, -87.794551
    • 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 Porterfield
  • 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 Marinette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marinette County
    • Since Porterfield is near Menominee County and also Oconto County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Menominee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oconto 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 Porterfield

Communities Also Named Porterfield ...

We found six communities that are also named Porterfield.

Within Wisconsin, the name Porterfield is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Madison County
      • This Porterfield is located in Madison County and lies 801 miles [1,289.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Porterfield that is located in Marinette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Porterfield.
    • Illinois
      • Marshall County
      • This Porterfield is located in Marshall County and lies 289 miles [465.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Porterfield that is located in Marinette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Porterfield.
    • Maine
      • Oxford County
      • This Porterfield is located in Oxford County and lies 834 miles [1,342.2 km]<1> to the east of the Porterfield that is located in Marinette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oxford County community of Porterfield.
    • Ohio
      • Washington County
      • This Porterfield is located in Washington County and lies 512 miles [824 km]<1> to the southeast of the Porterfield that is located in Marinette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Porterfield.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Venango 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 Pennsylvania community of Porterfield [Venango County].
    • Tennessee
      • Cannon County
      • This Porterfield is located in Cannon County and lies 646 miles [1,039.6 km]<1> to the south of the Porterfield that is located in Marinette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cannon County community of Porterfield.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Porterfield ...

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.

  • Beaver
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Beaver is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
  • Birch Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Birch Creek is located in Menominee County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch Creek
  • County Line
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • County Line is located in Oconto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
  • Eagles Nest
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Eagles Nest is located in Menominee County (MI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagles Nest
  • Harmony
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Harmony is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
  • Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Lake is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake
    • Estimated population in 2015: 1,136 people
  • May Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • May Corner is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May Corner
  • Miles
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Miles is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miles
  • Rubys Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Rubys Corner is located in Marinette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rubys Corner

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

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

  • Marinette, which is the Seat of Marinette County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Porterfield to Madison, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 699 miles [1,124.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 28 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,029 miles [9,702.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,777 miles [10,906.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,671 miles [7,517.2 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- Porterfield) 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 Porterfield 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 Porterfield 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 Porterfield. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.1544, Longitude: -87.7946       In this case, the coordinates for Porterfield have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.481 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.852 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.641 degrees.