Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rayville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rayville and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rayville
- 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 Rayville:
- 40.306703, -87.658355
- 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 Rayville
- 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 Vermilion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Vermilion County
- Since Rayville is near Warren County and also Champaign County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Warren County
- eBird sighting report for Champaign 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 Rayville ...
We found nine communities that share the name Rayville.
Within Illinois, the name Rayville is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- Bourbon County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Rayville [Bourbon County].
- Norton 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 Rayville [Norton County].
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Missouri
- New York
- Texas
- Washington
- Kansas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rayville ...
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.
- Blue Grass ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blue Grass have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blue Grass
- Blue Grass is located in Vermilion County
- Brothers
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest) - Danville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Danville
- Danville is located in Vermilion County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 30,106 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Danville <4>
- Denmark ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denmark
- Denmark is located in Vermilion County
- Glenburn
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenburn
- Glenburn is located in Vermilion County
- Gray Ford
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Hartshorn
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south) - Heaton
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Hillery
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south) - Jamesburg
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Sycamore Corner
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sycamore Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Corner
- Sycamore Corner is located in Warren County (IN)
How Far From Rayville 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 Rayville to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rayville and extending to:
- Danville, which is the Seat of Vermilion County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Rayville to Danville, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 111 miles [178.6 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 573 miles [922.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 33 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,259 miles [10,072.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,993 miles [11,254.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,874 miles [7,843.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rayville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Vermilion County: www.co.vermilion.il.us/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Rayville 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rayville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rayville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3067, Longitude: -87.6584 In this case, the coordinates for Rayville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Rayville to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.451 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.126 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.023 degrees. |