RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Grays Harbor 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:
    • 47.044262, -123.317377
    • 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 Grays Harbor County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grays Harbor County
    • Since Rayville is near Mason County and also Thurston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mason County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Thurston 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 Washington, the name Rayville is unique.

Beyond Washington, 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 1,823 miles [2,933.8 km]<1> to the east of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor 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 1,934 miles [3,112.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland Parish community of Rayville.
    • Maine
      • Cumberland County
      • This Rayville is located in Cumberland County and lies 2,509 miles [4,037.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cumberland County community of Rayville.
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Rayville is located in Baltimore County and lies 2,359 miles [3,796.4 km]<1> to the east of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor 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 1,554 miles [2,500.9 km]<1> to the east of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor 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 2,419 miles [3,893 km]<1> to the east of the Rayville that is located in Grays Harbor 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].

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.

  • Bordeaux ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Bordeaux is located in Thurston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bordeaux
  • Brady
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Brady is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brady
  • Cedarville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Cedarville is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
  • Deckerville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Deckerville is located in Mason County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deckerville
  • Delphi
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Delphi is located in Thurston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delphi
  • Fuller
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fuller is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
  • Garden City
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Garden City is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenwood is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hillgrove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillgrove is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillgrove
  • Melbourne
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Melbourne is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melbourne
  • Sine
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Sine is located in Grays Harbor County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sine
  • Sunrise Beach
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Sunrise Beach is located in Thurston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Beach

How Far From Rayville 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 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:

  • Montesano, which is the Seat of Grays Harbor County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rayville to Montesano, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 19 miles [30.6 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,368 miles [3,810.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 93 days and walking would take 135 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,825 miles [10,983.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,586 miles [12,208.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,717 miles [9,200.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 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.
<4>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: 47.0443, Longitude: -123.3174       In this case, the coordinates for Rayville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.665 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 343.321 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.447 degrees.