RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Louisiana >> Rapides Parish >> Boyce >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Boyce, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Boyce 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 Boyce:
    • 31.391043, -92.669540
    • 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 Boyce
  • 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Rapides Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rapides Parish
    • Since Boyce is near Grant Parish and also Natchitoches Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grant Parish
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Natchitoches Parish
  • 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 Boyce

Communities Also Named Boyce ...

We found eight communities that are also named Boyce.

Within Louisiana, the name Boyce is unique.

Beyond Louisiana, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Warren County
      • This Boyce is located in Warren County and lies 519 miles [835.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Warren County community of Boyce.
    • Mississippi
      • Wayne 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 Mississippi community of Boyce [Wayne County].
    • New Hampshire
      • Merrimack County
      • This Boyce is located in Merrimack County and lies 1,413 miles [2,274 km]<1> to the northeast of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merrimack County community of Boyce.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This Boyce is located in Allegheny County and lies 933 miles [1,501.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of Boyce.
      • Mercer 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 Pennsylvania community of Boyce [Mercer County].
    • Tennessee
      • Hamilton County
      • This Boyce is located in Hamilton County and lies 497 miles [799.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Boyce.
    • Texas
      • Ellis County
      • This Boyce is located in Ellis County and lies 248 miles [399.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ellis County community of Boyce.
    • Virginia
      • Clarke County
      • This Boyce is located in Clarke County and lies 978 miles [1,573.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Boyce that is located in Rapides Parish.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clarke County community of Boyce.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Boyce ...

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.

  • Alfalfa
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Alfalfa is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alfalfa
  • Bagdad
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Bagdad is located in Grant Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bagdad
  • Crane
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Crane is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crane
  • Hot Wells
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hot Wells is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hot Wells
  • Kateland
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Kateland is located in Grant Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kateland
  • McNutt
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • McNutt is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNutt
  • Mead ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Mead is located in Grant Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mead
  • Oasis
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Oasis is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oasis
  • Ravencamp
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Ravencamp is located in Grant Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravencamp
  • Rock
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rock is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock
  • Rock Hill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Rock Hill is located in Grant Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
  • Sharp
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Sharp is located in Rapides Parish
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharp

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

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

  • Alexandria, which is the Seat of Rapides Parish, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Boyce to Alexandria, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 110 miles [177 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 1,021 miles [1,643.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,896 miles [11,098 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,614 miles [12,253.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,489 miles [8,833.7 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Boyce) 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 Boyce 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 parish. 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 Boyce 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 Boyce. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.3910, Longitude: -92.6695       In this case, the coordinates for Boyce have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.091 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.968 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.052 degrees.