RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> San Mateo County >> Ravenswood >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ravenswood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ravenswood 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 Ravenswood:
    • 37.476327, -122.135242
    • 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 Ravenswood
  • 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 San Mateo County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Mateo County
    • Since Ravenswood is near Santa Clara County and also Alameda County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Santa Clara County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda 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 Ravenswood

Communities Also Named Ravenswood ...

We found eight communities that are also named Ravenswood.

Within California, the name Ravenswood is unique.

Beyond California, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Ravenswood is located in Cook County and lies 1,843 miles [2,966 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Ravenswood.
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • This Ravenswood is located in Marion County and lies 1,934 miles [3,112.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Ravenswood.
    • Louisiana
      • Pointe Coupee Parish
      • This Ravenswood is located in Pointe Coupee Parish and lies 1,794 miles [2,887.2 km]<1> to the east of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pointe Coupee Parish community of Ravenswood.
    • Michigan
      • Ingham 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 Michigan community of Ravenswood [Ingham County].
    • Nevada
      • Lander 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 Nevada community of Ravenswood [Lander County].
    • North Carolina
      • Jones County
      • This Ravenswood is located in Jones County and lies 2,483 miles [3,996 km]<1> to the east of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jones County community of Ravenswood.
    • Ontario
      • This Ravenswood lies 2,129 miles [3,426.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
    • West Virginia
      • Jackson County
      • This Ravenswood is located in Jackson County and lies 2,174 miles [3,498.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Ravenswood that is located in San Mateo County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Ravenswood.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ravenswood ...

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.

  • Castro City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Castro City is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castro City
  • Crescent Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Crescent Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Park
  • Evergreen Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Evergreen Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Park
  • Fair Oaks
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fair Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Oaks
  • Green Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Green Acres is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
  • Greenmeadow
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Greenmeadow is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenmeadow
  • Meadow Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Meadow Park is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Park
  • Neal
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Neal is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neal
  • Park Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Park Forest is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Forest
  • Professorville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Professorville is located in Santa Clara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Professorville
  • University Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • University Heights is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
  • Vintage Oaks
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Vintage Oaks is located in San Mateo County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vintage Oaks

How Far From Ravenswood to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Ravenswood to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Redwood City, which is the Seat of San Mateo County, lies just to the West.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Ravenswood to Sacramento, 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 2,424 miles [3,901 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 95 days and walking would take 138 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,429 miles [11,955.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,196 miles [13,190.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,247 miles [10,053.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ravenswood) 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 Ravenswood 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 Ravenswood, 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 Ravenswood 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 Ravenswood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4763, Longitude: -122.1352       In this case, the coordinates for Ravenswood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.932 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.814 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.99 degrees.