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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Plover, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plover 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 Plover:
    • 44.462469, -89.543174
    • 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 Plover
  • 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 Portage County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Portage County
    • Since Plover is near Wood County and also Marathon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wood County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marathon 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 Plover

Communities Also Named Plover ...

We found three communities that are also named Plover.

Within Wisconsin, the name Plover is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Pocahontas County
      • This Plover is located in Pocahontas County and lies 276 miles [444.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Plover that is located in Portage County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pocahontas County community of Plover.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lehigh 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 Pennsylvania community of Plover [Lehigh County].
    • Texas
      • Tarrant County
      • This Plover is located in Tarrant County and lies 924 miles [1,487 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Plover that is located in Portage County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tarrant County community of Plover.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Plover ...

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.

  • Almond
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Almond is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Almond
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 428 people
  • Blaine
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Blaine is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blaine
  • Grand Rapids
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Grand Rapids is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Rapids
  • Jordan
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jordan is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordan
  • Junction City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Junction City is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction City
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 439 people
  • Little Waupon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Waupon is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Waupon
  • Park Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Park Ridge is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Ridge
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 496 people
  • Rocky Run
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rocky Run is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Run
  • Rudolph
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Rudolph is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rudolph
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 411 people
  • Stevens Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Stevens Point is located in Portage County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stevens Point
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,949 people
  • Wisconsin Rapids
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Wisconsin Rapids is located in Wood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wisconsin Rapids
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,555 people

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

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

  • Stevens Point, which is the Seat of Portage County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 96 miles [154.5 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Plover to Madison, with an average speed<3>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 749 miles [1,205.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,124 miles [9,855.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,872 miles [11,059.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,768 miles [7,673.4 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Plover) 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 Plover 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 Plover 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 Plover. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.4625, Longitude: -89.5432       In this case, the coordinates for Plover have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.70 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.135 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.784 degrees.