RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Maine >> Cumberland County >> Rayville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

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 ...
  • 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:
    • 44.103127, -70.553671
    • 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 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 Cumberland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Since Rayville is near Oxford County and also Androscoggin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oxford County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Androscoggin 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 Rayville

Communities Also Named Rayville ...

We found nine communities that are also named Rayville.

Within Maine, the name Rayville is unique.

Beyond Maine, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Vermilion County
      • This Rayville is located in Vermilion County and lies 911 miles [1,466.1 km]<1> to the west of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vermilion County community of Rayville.
    • Kansas
      • Bourbon 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 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
      • Richland Parish
      • This Rayville is located in Richland Parish and lies 1,395 miles [2,245 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland Parish community of Rayville.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Rayville is located in Baltimore County and lies 440 miles [708.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Rayville.
    • Missouri
      • Ray County
      • This Rayville is located in Ray County and lies 1,250 miles [2,011.7 km]<1> to the west of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ray County community of Rayville.
    • New York
      • Columbia County
      • This Rayville is located in Columbia County and lies 187 miles [300.9 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Rayville.
    • Texas
      • Parker 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 Rayville [Parker County].
    • Washington
      • Grays Harbor County
      • This Rayville is located in Grays Harbor County and lies 2,509 miles [4,037.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rayville that is located in Cumberland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grays Harbor County community of Rayville.

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.

  • Brimstone Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Brimstone Corner is located in Oxford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brimstone Corner
  • Chambers Corner
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Chambers Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chambers Corner
  • Crescent Lake
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Crescent Lake is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent Lake
  • Dunkertown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Dunkertown is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunkertown
  • Five Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Five Corners is located in Androscoggin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Mechanic Falls
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Paine Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Paine Corner is located in Oxford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paine Corner
  • Pike Corner
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pike Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pike Corner
  • Poland
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Poland is located in Androscoggin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poland
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,683 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Poland <3>
  • Pratt Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Pratt Corner is located in Oxford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pratt Corner
  • Promised Land
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Promised Land is located in Androscoggin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Promised Land
  • Scribners Mill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Scribners Mill is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scribners Mill
  • Sodom
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sodom is located in Oxford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sodom
  • Stuarts Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Stuarts Corner is located in Cumberland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuarts Corner

How Far From Rayville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers 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:

  • Portland, which is the Seat of Cumberland County, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rayville to Portland, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Augusta, which is the State Capital of Maine, lies 40 miles [64.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 491 miles [790.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 28 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,416 miles [8,716.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,129 miles [9,863.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,005 miles [6,445.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Rayville) 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 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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Rayville 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 Rayville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1031, Longitude: -70.5537       In this case, the coordinates for Rayville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.388 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.209 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 299.415 degrees.