RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Russell County >> Wilder >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wilder, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wilder 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 Wilder:
    • 37.011495, -82.218194
    • 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 Wilder
  • 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 Russell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell County
    • Since Wilder is near Dickenson County and also Letcher County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickenson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Letcher 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 Wilder

Communities Also Named Wilder ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Wilder.

Within Virginia, the name Wilder is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Canyon County
      • This Wilder is located in Canyon County and lies 1,868 miles [3,006.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Canyon County community of Wilder.
    • Kansas
      • Comanche 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 Kansas community of Wilder [Comanche County].
      • Johnson County
      • This Wilder is located in Johnson County and lies 701 miles [1,128.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Wilder.
    • Kentucky
      • Campbell County
      • This Wilder is located in Campbell County and lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Campbell County community of Wilder.
      • Estill County
      • This Wilder is located in Estill County and lies 102 miles [164.2 km] to the west northwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Estill County community of Wilder.
    • Minnesota
      • Jackson County
      • This Wilder is located in Jackson County and lies 827 miles [1,330.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Wilder.
    • Montana
      • Fergus 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 Montana community of Wilder [Fergus County].
    • New Hampshire
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Wilder is located in Hillsborough County and lies 674 miles [1,084.7 km]<1> to the northeast of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Wilder.
    • South Carolina
      • Berkeley County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Wilder [Berkeley County].
    • Tennessee
      • Fentress County
      • This Wilder is located in Fentress County and lies 167 miles [268.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fentress County community of Wilder.
    • Vermont
      • Windsor County
      • This Wilder is located in Windsor County and lies 694 miles [1,116.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Wilder that is located in Russell County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windsor County community of Wilder.
    • Wisconsin
      • Marathon 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 Wisconsin community of Wilder [Marathon County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wilder ...

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.

  • Carrie
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Carrie is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrie
  • Counts
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Counts is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Counts
  • Fullers
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Fullers is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fullers
  • Gravel Lick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Gravel Lick is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Lick
  • Hazel
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hazel is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
  • Indian ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian is located in Buchanan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian
  • Jessees Mill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jessees Mill is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jessees Mill
  • John
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • John is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John
  • Judge ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Judge is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Judge
  • Open Fork
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Open Fork is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Open Fork
  • Sun
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Sun is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sun
  • Tiny
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Tiny is located in Dickenson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiny

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Wilder once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Wilder and extending to:

  • Lebanon, which is the Seat of Russell County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Wilder to Lebanon, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 265 miles [426.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 310 miles [498.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,198 miles [9,974.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,908 miles [11,117.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,784 miles [7,699.1 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wilder) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Wilder 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 Wilder, 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 Wilder 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 Wilder. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.0115, Longitude: -82.2182       In this case, the coordinates for Wilder have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.03 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.738 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.528 degrees.