Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bray, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bray and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bray
- 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 Bray:
- 35.046481, -89.705361
- 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 Bray
- 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 Shelby County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Shelby County
- Since Bray is near Fayette County and also Marshall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Fayette County
- eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 Bray ...
We found seven communities that share the name Bray.
There is one other community in Tennessee which is also named Bray.
Beyond Tennessee, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Tennessee ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bray ...
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.
- Bleak ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Booth ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Center Point ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
- Center Point is located in Shelby County
- Crossroads
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crossroads have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossroads
- Crossroads is located in Shelby County
- Elba
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Fisherville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisherville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisherville
- Fisherville is located in Shelby County
- Greenlawn
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Handy Corner
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Handy Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Handy Corner
- Handy Corner is located in DeSoto County (MS)
- Irene ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Rocky Point ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Point have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point
- Rocky Point is located in Shelby County
How Far From Bray 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 Bray to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Bray once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Bray and extending to:
- Memphis, which is the Seat of Shelby County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Bray to Memphis, 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.
- Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 181 miles [291.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 746 miles [1,200.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,595 miles [10,613.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,318 miles [11,777.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,193 miles [8,357.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Shelby County: www.shelbycountytn.gov/
The official website for State of Tennessee: https://www.tn.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- Bray) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bray. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.0465, Longitude: -89.7054 In this case, the coordinates for Bray have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Bray, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Bray 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. |
| <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 Bray 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 315.564 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.681 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.193 degrees. |