RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Saint Croix County >> Houlton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Houlton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Houlton 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 Houlton:
    • 45.060523, -92.791318
    • 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 Houlton
  • 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 Saint Croix County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Croix County
    • Since Houlton is near Washington County and also Ramsey County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ramsey 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 Houlton

Communities Also Named Houlton ...

We found two communities that are also named Houlton.

Within Wisconsin, the name Houlton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Aroostook County
      • This Houlton is located in Aroostook County and lies 1,202 miles [1,934.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Houlton that is located in Saint Croix County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aroostook County community of Houlton.
    • Oregon
      • Columbia 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 Oregon community of Houlton [Columbia County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Houlton ...

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.

  • Bald Eagle
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Bald Eagle is located in Ramsey County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bald Eagle
  • Birchwood
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Birchwood is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
  • Boardman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Boardman is located in Saint Croix County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boardman
  • Glover
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Glover is located in Saint Croix County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover
  • Grant
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Grant is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grant
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,107 people
  • Lake Elmo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Elmo is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Elmo
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,280 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Elmo <3>
  • Landfall
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Landfall is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Landfall
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 733 people
  • Maple Island
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Maple Island is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Island
  • Maplewood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Pine Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Pine Springs is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Springs
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 390 people
  • Stillwater
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Stillwater is located in Washington County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stillwater
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,694 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stillwater <3>
  • White Bear Beach
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • White Bear Beach is located in Ramsey County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Bear Beach
  • White Bear Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)

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

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

  • Hudson, which is the Seat of Saint Croix County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 217 miles [349.2 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Houlton to Madison, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 911 miles [1,466.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,203 miles [9,982.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,957 miles [11,196.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,865 miles [7,829.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Houlton) 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 Houlton 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'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 Houlton 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 Houlton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.0605, Longitude: -92.7913       In this case, the coordinates for Houlton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.961 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.788 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.36 degrees.