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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gratiot, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gratiot 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 Gratiot:
    • 42.577743, -90.022988
    • 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 Gratiot
  • 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 Lafayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lafayette County
    • Since Gratiot is near Jo Daviess County and also Green County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jo Daviess County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Green 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 Gratiot

Communities Also Named Gratiot ...

We found three communities that are also named Gratiot.

Within Wisconsin, the name Gratiot is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Michigan
      • Wayne 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 Michigan community of Gratiot [Wayne County].
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis City
      • This Gratiot is located in Saint Louis City and lies 273 miles [439.4 km]<2> to the south of the Gratiot that is located in Lafayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis City community of Gratiot.
    • Ohio
      • Licking County
      • This Gratiot is located in Licking County and lies 443 miles [712.9 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Gratiot that is located in Lafayette County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Licking County community of Gratiot.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gratiot ...

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.

  • Argyle
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Argyle is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Argyle
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 809 people
  • Council Hill
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Council Hill is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Council Hill
  • Lead Mine
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Lead Mine is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lead Mine
  • Lena
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Martintown
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Martintown is located in Green County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martintown
  • New Diggings
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Pitcherville ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Pitcherville is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pitcherville
  • Red Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Red Rock is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
  • Scales Mound
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Slateford
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Slateford is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slateford
  • Sunnyside
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Sunnyside is located in Stephenson County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Sweet Home ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Sweet Home is located in Jo Daviess County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Home
  • Yellowstone
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Yellowstone is located in Lafayette County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellowstone

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

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

  • Darlington, which is the Seat of Lafayette County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 46 miles [74 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Gratiot to Madison, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 724 miles [1,165.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,234 miles [10,032.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,979 miles [11,231.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,869 miles [7,835.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Gratiot 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Gratiot) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Gratiot 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 Gratiot. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5777, Longitude: -90.0230    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.04 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.259 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.572 degrees.