RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Alabama >> Cleburne County >> Oak Level >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Oak Level, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oak Level 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 Oak Level:
    • 33.849707, -85.477241
    • 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 Oak Level
  • 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 Cleburne County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cleburne County
    • Since Oak Level is near Calhoun County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Calhoun County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 Oak Level

Communities Also Named Oak Level ...

We found five communities that are also named Oak Level.

There is one other community in Alabama that is also named Oak Level.

Beyond Alabama, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Alabama ...
    • Calhoun County
      • This Oak Level is located in Calhoun County and lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<1> to the west of the Oak Level that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Oak Level.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Bryan County
      • This Oak Level is located in Bryan County and lies 282 miles [453.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Oak Level that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bryan County community of Oak Level.
    • Kentucky
      • Marshall County
      • This Oak Level is located in Marshall County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Oak Level that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marshall County community of Oak Level.
    • Virginia
      • Halifax 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 Virginia community of Oak Level [Halifax County].
      • Henry County
      • This Oak Level is located in Henry County and lies 373 miles [600.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oak Level that is located in Cleburne County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henry County community of Oak Level.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak Level ...

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.

  • Burns
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Burns is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns
  • Coldwater
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Coldwater is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coldwater
  • Dailey
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Greenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Greenwood is located in Calhoun County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Liberty Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Liberty Hill is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Hill
  • Mars Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Mars Hill is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mars Hill
  • Mount Pleasant
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Palestine
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Piney Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Piney Woods is located in Cleburne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Woods
  • Treat ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Treat is located in Polk County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Treat

How Far From Oak Level 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 community such as Oak Level to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oak Level and extending to:

  • Heflin, which is the Seat of Cleburne County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Oak Level to Heflin, 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.
  • Montgomery, which is the State Capital of Alabama, lies 112 miles [180.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 584 miles [939.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,480 miles [10,428.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,187 miles [11,566.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,064 miles [8,149.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Oak Level) 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 Oak Level 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 Oak Level 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 Oak Level. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8497, Longitude: -85.4772       In this case, the coordinates for Oak Level have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.902 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.439 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.693 degrees.