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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Leyden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Leyden 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 Leyden:
    • 42.730841, -89.129003
    • 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 Leyden
  • 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 Rock County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rock County
    • Since Leyden is near Dane County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dane County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Leyden

Communities Also Named Leyden ...

We found four communities that are also named Leyden.

Within Wisconsin, the name Leyden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Jefferson County
      • This Leyden is located in Jefferson County and lies 855 miles [1,376 km]<1> to the west of the Leyden that is located in Rock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Leyden.
    • Massachusetts
      • Franklin County
      • This Leyden is located in Franklin County and lies 835 miles [1,343.8 km]<1> to the east of the Leyden that is located in Rock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Leyden.
    • New York
      • Lewis 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 York community of Leyden [Lewis County].
    • North Dakota
      • Pembina County
      • This Leyden is located in Pembina County and lies 594 miles [956 km]<1> to the northwest of the Leyden that is located in Rock County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pembina County community of Leyden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Leyden ...

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.

  • Charlie Bluff
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Charlie Bluff is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlie Bluff
  • Cooksville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Cooksville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooksville
  • Fellows ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fellows is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fellows
  • Footville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Footville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Footville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 822 people
  • Hickory Hills
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Highwood
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Highwood is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highwood
  • Indian Heights
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Indian Heights is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Heights
  • Indianford
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Indianford is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianford
  • Janesville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Janesville is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Janesville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 64,664 people
  • Magnolia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Magnolia is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia
  • Maple Beach
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Maple Beach is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Beach
  • Spring Valley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Valley is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
  • Union
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Union is located in Rock County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Janesville, which is the Seat of Rock County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from Leyden to Madison, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 684 miles [1,100.8 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 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,195 miles [9,969.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,938 miles [11,165.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Leyden) 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 Leyden 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 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 Leyden 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 Leyden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.7308, Longitude: -89.1290       In this case, the coordinates for Leyden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.434 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.59 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.073 degrees.