RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Rapides Parish >> Wilda >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wilda, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wilda 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 Wilda:
    • 31.298236, -92.739871
    • 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 Wilda
  • 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Rapides Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rapides Parish
    • Since Wilda is near Vernon Parish and also Grant Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vernon Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant Parish
  • 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 Wilda

Communities Also Named Wilda ...

We found two communities that are also named Wilda.

Within Louisiana, the name Wilda is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Anderson 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 Kansas community of Wilda [Anderson County].
    • Virginia
      • Augusta County
      • This Wilda is located in Augusta County and lies 901 miles [1,450 km]<2> to the northeast of the Wilda that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Augusta County community of Wilda.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wilda ...

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.

  • Alfalfa
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Alfalfa is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alfalfa
  • Crane
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Crane is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane
  • Hemphill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hemphill is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hemphill
  • Hood
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Hood is located in Vernon Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hood
  • Hot Wells
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hot Wells is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Wells
  • McNutt
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • McNutt is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNutt
  • Muse ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Muse is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muse
  • Oasis
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Oasis is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oasis
  • Price Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Price Crossing is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Price Crossing
  • Rock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Rock is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock
  • Sharp
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Sharp is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharp

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

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

  • Alexandria, which is the Seat of Rapides Parish, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Wilda to Alexandria, 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 five to six hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 110 miles [177 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,028 miles [1,654.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 59 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,903 miles [11,109.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,622 miles [12,266.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,497 miles [8,846.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Wilda 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 parish. 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wilda) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Wilda 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 Wilda. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.2982, Longitude: -92.7399       In this case, the coordinates for Wilda have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.124 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.994 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.094 degrees.