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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vilas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vilas 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 Vilas:
    • 43.089718, -89.234838
    • 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 Vilas
  • 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 Dane County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dane County
    • Since Vilas is near Jefferson County and also Columbia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia 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 Vilas

Communities Also Named Vilas ...

We found nine communities that are also named Vilas.

Within Wisconsin, the name Vilas is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Baca County
      • This Vilas is located in Baca County and lies 799 miles [1,285.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baca County community of Vilas.
    • Florida
      • Liberty County
      • This Vilas is located in Liberty County and lies 920 miles [1,480.6 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of Vilas.
    • Indiana
      • Owen County
      • This Vilas is located in Owen County and lies 297 miles [478 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Owen County community of Vilas.
    • Kansas
      • Wilson County
      • This Vilas is located in Wilson County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilson County community of Vilas.
    • Louisiana
      • Grant Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Vilas [Grant Parish].
    • North Carolina
      • Watauga County
      • This Vilas is located in Watauga County and lies 616 miles [991.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Watauga County community of Vilas.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lycoming County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Lycoming County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lycoming County community of Vilas.
    • South Dakota
      • Miner County
      • This Vilas is located in Miner County and lies 423 miles [680.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miner County community of Vilas.
    • Texas
      • Bell County
      • This Vilas is located in Bell County and lies 954 miles [1,535.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Vilas that is located in Dane County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bell County community of Vilas.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vilas ...

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.

  • Cottage Grove
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Cottage Grove is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,158 people
  • Darwin ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Darwin is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Darwin
  • Door Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Door Creek is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Door Creek
  • Elmside
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Elmside is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmside
  • Hope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hope is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
  • Maple Bluff
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Maple Bluff is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Bluff
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,307 people
  • Pierceville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Pierceville is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierceville
  • Raintree
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Raintree is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
  • Red Bridge Crossing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Red Bridge Crossing is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bridge Crossing
  • Seminary Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Seminary Springs is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminary Springs
  • Sunburst
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sunburst is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunburst
  • Token Creek
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Token Creek is located in Dane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Token Creek

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

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

  • Madison, which is the Seat of Dane County, lies just to the West.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies just to the west (W).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 697 miles [1,121.7 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Vilas to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 40 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,181 miles [9,947.4 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 4,816 miles [7,750.6 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- Vilas) 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 Vilas 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 Vilas, 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 Vilas 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 Vilas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.0897, Longitude: -89.2348       In this case, the coordinates for Vilas have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.504 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.72 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.025 degrees.