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:
- 39.348347, -94.064322
- 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 Ray County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Ray County
- Since Rayville is near Clay County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Clay County
- eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 Missouri, the name Rayville is unique.
Beyond Missouri, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Illinois
- 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
- Maine
- Maryland
- New York
- Texas
- Washington
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.
- Claysville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Claysville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claysville
- Claysville is located in Clay County
- Crystal Lakes
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lakes
- Crystal Lakes is located in Ray County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
- Dockery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east) - Elkhorn
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Golf Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Homestead
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - New Garden
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Garden have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Garden
- New Garden is located in Ray County
- Sandals
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - Wood Heights
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wood Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Heights
- Wood Heights is located in Ray County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 700 people
- Woods Heights
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woods Heights
- Woods Heights is located in Ray County
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 village 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:
- Richmond, which is the Seat of Ray County, lies just to the Southeast.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 911 miles [1,466.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Rayville to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 52 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 36 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,541 miles [10,526.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,285 miles [11,724.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,174 miles [8,326.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
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 State of Missouri: https://www.mo.gov/
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.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rayville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3483, Longitude: -94.0643 |
| <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> | 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 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. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.693 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.873 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.358 degrees. |