Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Melville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Melville and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Melville
- 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 Melville:
- 30.694585, -91.743823
- 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 Melville
- 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 Saint Landry Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Saint Landry Parish
- Since Melville is near Pointe Coupee Parish and also Avoyelles Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Pointe Coupee Parish
- eBird sighting report for Avoyelles 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Melville ...
We found seventeen communities that share the name Melville.
Within Louisiana, the name Melville is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seventeen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and seven are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Missouri
- Montana
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- This Melville lies 1,112 miles [1,789.6 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Melville that is located in Saint Landry Parish.
- Oregon
- Prince Edward Island
- This Melville lies 1,872 miles [3,012.7 km]<2> to the northeast of the Melville that is located in Saint Landry Parish.
- Rhode Island
- Saskatchewan
- This Melville lies 1,508 miles [2,426.9 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Melville that is located in Saint Landry Parish.
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Melville ...
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.
- Argyle
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Coon
(5 miles [8 km] to the north) - Elba
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Goodwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Half Moon
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon
- Half Moon is located in Saint Landry Parish
- Randall ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Ravenswood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ravenswood have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
- Ravenswood is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
- Second Lake ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Second Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Second Lake
- Second Lake is located in Saint Landry Parish
How Far From Melville 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 town such as Melville to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Melville and extending to:
- Opelousas, which is the Seat of Saint Landry Parish, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Melville to Opelousas, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 38 miles [61.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,006 miles [1,619 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,893 miles [11,093.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,606 miles [12,240.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,482 miles [8,822.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Melville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.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 Melville 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. |
| <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- Melville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Melville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.6946, Longitude: -91.7438 |
| <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 Melville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Melville 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 316.43 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.104 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.771 degrees. |