Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oakvale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakvale and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oakvale
- 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 Oakvale:
- 37.334968, -80.962054
- 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 Oakvale
- 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 Mercer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mercer County
- Since Oakvale is near Giles County and also Bland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Giles County
- eBird sighting report for Bland 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 Oakvale ...
We found six communities that share the name Oakvale.
Within West Virginia, the name Oakvale is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New York
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakvale ...
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.
- Blake ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Chestnut Knob
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chestnut Knob have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Knob
- Chestnut Knob is located in Mercer County
- First Ford
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for First Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Ford
- First Ford is located in Giles County (VA)
- French
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Hardy
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest) - Hatcher
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Kellysville
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kellysville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellysville
- Kellysville is located in Mercer County
- Lilly Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lilly Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lilly Grove
- Lilly Grove is located in Mercer County
- Oak Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Pumpkin Center
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pumpkin Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
- Pumpkin Center is located in Bland County (VA)
- Round Bottom
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Round Bottom
- Round Bottom is located in Bland County (VA)
How Far From Oakvale 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 town such as Oakvale to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oakvale and extending to:
- Princeton, which is the Seat of Mercer County, lies just to the West Northwest.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Oakvale to Charleston, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 238 miles [383 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,131 miles [9,866.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,839 miles [11,006.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,715 miles [7,588.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Oakvale. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Oakvale 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oakvale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oakvale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.3350, Longitude: -80.9621 |
| <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 Oakvale 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 310.276 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.923 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.904 degrees. |