RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Island Beach, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Island Beach and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Island Beach:
    • 44.091096, -88.502890
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Island Beach
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Island Beach ...

We found two communities that share the name Island Beach.

Within Wisconsin, the name Island Beach is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Manitoba
      • This Island Beach lies 579 miles [931.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Island Beach that is located in Winnebago County.
    • New Jersey
      • Ocean 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 New Jersey community of Island Beach [Ocean County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Island Beach ...

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.

  • Fox Crossing
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Crossing
    • Fox Crossing is located in Winnebago County
  • Harbor Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harbor Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor Springs
    • Harbor Springs is located in Winnebago County
  • Leonards Point
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leonards Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonards Point
    • Leonards Point is located in Winnebago County
  • Rainbow Beach
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainbow Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Beach
    • Rainbow Beach is located in Winnebago County
  • Rockaway Beach
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rockaway Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockaway Beach
    • Rockaway Beach is located in Winnebago County
  • Shangri La Point
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shangri La Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shangri La Point
    • Shangri La Point is located in Winnebago County
  • Stony Beach
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Beach
    • Stony Beach is located in Winnebago County
  • Sunrise Bay
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise Bay have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Bay
    • Sunrise Bay is located in Winnebago County
  • Sunset Beach
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach
    • Sunset Beach is located in Calumet County
  • Sunset Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Point
    • Sunset Point is located in Winnebago County

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

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

  • Oshkosh, which is the Seat of Winnebago County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 83 miles [133.6 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Island Beach to Madison, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 692 miles [1,113.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 40 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,106 miles [9,826.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,852 miles [11,027.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,744 miles [7,634.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Island Beach. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Winnebago County: www.co.winnebago.wi.us/

The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.gov/

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Island Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Island Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0911, Longitude: -88.5029       In this case, the coordinates for Island Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Island Beach 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Island Beach to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.993 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.281 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.349 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024