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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mellen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mellen 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 Mellen:
    • 46.323284, -90.661294
    • 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 Mellen
  • 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 Ashland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ashland County
    • Since Mellen is near Iron County and also Bayfield County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iron County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bayfield 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 Mellen

Communities Also Named Mellen ...

We found two communities that are also named Mellen.

Within Wisconsin, the name Mellen is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Mellen is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,127 miles [1,813.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Mellen that is located in Ashland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Mellen.
    • Virginia
      • Mellen #
      • 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 Virginia community of Mellen.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mellen ...

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.

  • Birch
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Birch is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch
  • Cedar
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Cedar is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
  • Clam Lake
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Clam Lake is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Lake
  • Gurney
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Gurney is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gurney
  • High Bridge
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • High Bridge is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Bridge
  • Iron Belt
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Iron Belt is located in Iron County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron Belt
  • Minersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Minersville is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minersville
  • Morse
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Morse is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morse
  • Peeksville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Peeksville is located in Ashland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peeksville

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

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

  • Ashland, which is the Seat of Ashland County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Mellen to Ashland, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 232 miles [373.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 859 miles [1,382.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,069 miles [9,767.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,823 miles [10,980.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,730 miles [7,612.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- Mellen) 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 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 Mellen 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 Mellen 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 Mellen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.3233, Longitude: -90.6613       In this case, the coordinates for Mellen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.441 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.236 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.826 degrees.