RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Warren County >> Rainsville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rainsville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rainsville 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 Rainsville:
    • 40.415870, -87.315570
    • 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 Rainsville
  • 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 Warren County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren County
    • Since Rainsville is near Benton County and also Fountain County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fountain 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 Rainsville

Communities Also Named Rainsville ...

We found three communities that are also named Rainsville.

Within Indiana, the name Rainsville is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • DeKalb County
      • This Rainsville is located in DeKalb County and lies 416 miles [669.5 km]<1> to the south of the Rainsville that is located in Warren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Rainsville.
    • New Mexico
      • Mora County
      • This Rainsville is located in Mora County and lies 1,016 miles [1,635.1 km]<1> to the west of the Rainsville that is located in Warren County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mora County community of Rainsville.
    • Texas
      • Shelby 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 Texas community of Rainsville [Shelby County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rainsville ...

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.

  • Carbondale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Carbondale is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbondale
  • Chase
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Chase is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chase
  • Fargo
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Fargo is located in Benton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
  • Five Points
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Five Points is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Hooker Corner
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Hooker Corner is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker Corner
  • Judyville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Judyville is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Judyville
  • Kramer
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Kramer is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kramer
  • Rocky Ford
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Rocky Ford is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Ford
  • Sycamore Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Sycamore Corner is located in Warren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sycamore Corner

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

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

  • Williamsport, which is the Seat of Warren County, lies just to the South.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 75 miles [120.7 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Rainsville to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3>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 556 miles [894.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,241 miles [10,043.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,975 miles [11,225.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,855 miles [7,813.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Rainsville) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek 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 Rainsville 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>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.
<4>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 Rainsville 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 Rainsville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.4159, Longitude: -87.3156       In this case, the coordinates for Rainsville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.228 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.886 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.829 degrees.