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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sheppard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sheppard 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 Sheppard:
    • 44.260795, -90.780695
    • 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 Sheppard
  • 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
    • Since Sheppard is near Crawford County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Sheppard

Communities Also Named Sheppard ...

We found five communities that are also named Sheppard.

Within Wisconsin, the name Sheppard is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Wilcox County
      • This Sheppard is located in Wilcox County and lies 871 miles [1,401.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Sheppard that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilcox County community of Sheppard.
    • Arkansas
      • Hempstead County
      • This Sheppard is located in Hempstead County and lies 750 miles [1,207 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Sheppard that is located in Jackson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hempstead County community of Sheppard.
    • California
      • Amador 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 California community of Sheppard [Amador County].
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of Sheppard [Baltimore County].
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Sheppard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sheppard ...

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.

  • Cataract
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Cataract is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cataract
  • Disco
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Disco is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Disco
  • Four Corners
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Four Corners is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Four Corners
  • Franklin
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Franklin is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
  • Kirby
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kirby is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
  • Lees Crossing
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Lees Crossing is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Crossing
  • Lynxville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lynxville is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynxville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Pray
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pray is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pray
  • Shamrock
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Shamrock is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Speck Oaks
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Speck Oaks is located in Jackson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Speck Oaks

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

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

  • Black River Falls, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 107 miles [172.2 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Sheppard 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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 799 miles [1,285.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,176 miles [9,939.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,926 miles [11,146.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,824 miles [7,763.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Sheppard) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Sheppard 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Sheppard, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Sheppard 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 Sheppard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.2608, Longitude: -90.7807       In this case, the coordinates for Sheppard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.557 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.082 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.499 degrees.