Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rusk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rusk and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rusk
- 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 Rusk:
- 31.795947, -95.150482
- 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 Rusk
- 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 Cherokee County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cherokee County
- Since Rusk is near Nacogdoches County and also Rusk County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Nacogdoches County
- eBird sighting report for Rusk 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 Rusk ...
We found eight communities that share the name Rusk.
Within Texas, the name Rusk is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rusk ...
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.
- Circle
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Craft
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest) - Dialville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dialville
- Dialville is located in Cherokee County
- Elm Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Java
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west) - Lone Oak
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Redlawn
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Shady Grove
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
- Shady Grove is located in Cherokee County
How Far From Rusk 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 city such as Rusk to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rusk and extending to:
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 186 miles [299.3 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Rusk to Austin, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,129 miles [1,816.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 45 days and walking would take 65 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,973 miles [11,222 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,700 miles [12,391.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,576 miles [8,973.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rusk: www.rusktx.com/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.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 drawn from Point A (ie- Rusk) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rusk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7959, Longitude: -95.1505 |
| <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 Rusk, 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 Rusk 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 Rusk 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 318.729 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.939 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.048 degrees. |