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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wills 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 Wills:
    • 46.539108, -91.539356
    • 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 Wills
  • 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 Bayfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Bayfield County
    • Since Wills is near Douglas County and also Saint Louis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Louis 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 Wills

Communities Also Named Wills ...

We found six communities that are also named Wills.

Within Wisconsin, the name Wills is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • DeKalb County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Wills [DeKalb County].
    • Ohio
      • Monroe County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Monroe County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Wills.
    • Tennessee
      • Johnson County
      • This Wills is located in Johnson County and lies 853 miles [1,372.8 km]<2> to the southeast of the Wills that is located in Bayfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Wills.
      • Lawrence County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Wills [Lawrence County].
    • West Virginia
      • Kanawha County
      • This Wills is located in Kanawha County and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<2> to the southeast of the Wills that is located in Bayfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Wills.
      • Mercer County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Wills [Mercer County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wills ...

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.

  • Blueberry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Blueberry is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blueberry
  • Cloverland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cloverland is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverland
  • Delta
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Delta is located in Bayfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
  • Iron River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Iron River is located in Bayfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iron River
  • Maple
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Maple is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple
  • Pike River
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Pike River is located in Bayfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike River
  • Poplar
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Poplar is located in Douglas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 613 people
  • Topside
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Topside is located in Bayfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Topside

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

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

  • Washburn, which is the Seat of Bayfield County, lies 31 miles [49.9 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Wills to Washburn, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 261 miles [420 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 903 miles [1,453.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,087 miles [9,796.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,842 miles [11,011.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,753 miles [7,649.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Wills, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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 Wills 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.
<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 Wills 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 Wills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5391, Longitude: -91.5394       In this case, the coordinates for Wills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.057 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.964 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.248 degrees.