RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Liberty County >> Vilas >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vilas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vilas 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 Vilas:
    • 30.219088, -84.885746
    • 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 Vilas
  • 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 Liberty County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Liberty County
    • Since Vilas is near Leon County and also Calhoun County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Leon County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun 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 Vilas

Communities Also Named Vilas ...

We found nine communities that are also named Vilas.

Within Florida, the name Vilas is unique.

Beyond Florida, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Baca County
      • This Vilas is located in Baca County and lies 1,119 miles [1,800.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baca County community of Vilas.
    • Indiana
      • Owen County
      • This Vilas is located in Owen County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km]<1> to the north of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Owen County community of Vilas.
    • Kansas
      • Wilson County
      • This Vilas is located in Wilson County and lies 798 miles [1,284.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilson County community of Vilas.
    • Louisiana
      • Grant Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Vilas [Grant Parish].
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga County
      • This Vilas is located in Watauga County and lies 453 miles [729 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Watauga County community of Vilas.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lycoming County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Lycoming County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lycoming County community of Vilas.
    • South Dakota
      • Miner County
      • This Vilas is located in Miner County and lies 1,178 miles [1,895.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miner County community of Vilas.
    • Texas
      • Bell County
      • This Vilas is located in Bell County and lies 739 miles [1,189.3 km]<1> to the west of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bell County community of Vilas.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dane County
      • This Vilas is located in Dane County and lies 920 miles [1,480.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Vilas that is located in Liberty County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dane County community of Vilas.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vilas ...

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.

  • Bon Ami
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Bon Ami is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bon Ami
  • Fawn Ford
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Fawn Ford is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fawn Ford
  • Jensen Place
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Jensen Place is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jensen Place
  • Lewis
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Lewis is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lewis
  • Liberty
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Liberty is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Mosquito Landing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Mosquito Landing is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosquito Landing
  • Orange
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Orange is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange
  • Twin Pole
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Twin Pole is located in Liberty County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Pole

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

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

  • Bristol, which is the Seat of Liberty County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Vilas to Bristol, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 39 miles [62.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 746 miles [1,200.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,624 miles [10,660.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,313 miles [11,769.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,198 miles [8,365.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Vilas) 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 Vilas 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>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 Vilas, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Vilas 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 Vilas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.2191, Longitude: -84.8857       In this case, the coordinates for Vilas have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.33 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.275 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.252 degrees.