Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rural, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rural and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rural
- 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 Rural:
- 44.313034, -89.153170
- 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 Rural
- 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 Waupaca County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Waupaca County
- Since Rural is near Portage County and also Waushara County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Portage County
- eBird sighting report for Waushara 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Rural ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Rural.
Within Wisconsin, the name Rural is unique.
Beyond Wisconsin, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Chase 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 Kansas community of Rural [Chase County].
- Kingman County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rural [Kingman County].
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Ohio
- Utah
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rural ...
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.
- Blaine
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blaine
- Blaine is located in Portage County
- Brushville
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brushville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brushville
- Brushville is located in Waushara County
- Chain O' Lakes
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chain O' Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chain O' Lakes
- Chain O' Lakes is located in Waupaca County
- Granite Quarry ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granite Quarry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite Quarry
- Granite Quarry is located in Waupaca County
- Indian Crossing
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Crossing
- Indian Crossing is located in Waupaca County
- King
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for King
- King is located in Waupaca County
- Little Hope
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Hope have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Hope
- Little Hope is located in Waupaca County
- Pine River
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine River
- Pine River is located in Waushara County
- Wild Rose
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rose
- Wild Rose is located in Waushara County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 651 people
How Far From Rural 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 Rural to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rural and extending to:
- Waupaca, which is the Seat of Waupaca County, lies just to the Northeast.
- Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 86 miles [138.4 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Rural 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 727 miles [1,170 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,118 miles [9,846 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,865 miles [11,048.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,760 miles [7,660.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rural. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Waupaca County: www.co.waupaca.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 from Point A (ie- Rural) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rural. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3130, Longitude: -89.1532 In this case, the coordinates for Rural 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 Rural 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 Rural 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 315.434 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.813 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.623 degrees. |