RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Clark County >> Oak Point >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oak Point, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oak Point 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 Point:
    • 39.211062, -87.976015
    • 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 Point
  • 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 Clark County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark County
    • Since Oak Point is near Cumberland County and also Jasper County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cumberland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper 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 Point

Communities Also Named Oak Point ...

We found fourteen communities that are also named Oak Point.

Within Illinois, the name Oak Point is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, twelve are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • This Oak Point is located in Broward County and lies 1,014 miles [1,631.9 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of Oak Point.
    • Georgia
      • DeKalb County
      • This Oak Point is located in DeKalb County and lies 414 miles [666.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Oak Point.
      • Oconee County
      • This Oak Point is located in Oconee County and lies 451 miles [725.8 km] to the southeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oconee County community of Oak Point.
    • Louisiana
      • Plaquemines Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Oak Point [Plaquemines Parish].
    • Maine
      • Hancock 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 Maine community of Oak Point [Hancock County].
    • Manitoba
      • This Oak Point lies 920 miles [1,480.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
    • Michigan
      • Jackson County
      • This Oak Point is located in Jackson County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Oak Point.
    • Minnesota
      • Roseau County
      • This Oak Point is located in Roseau County and lies 791 miles [1,273 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roseau County community of Oak Point.
    • New Brunswick
      • This Oak Point lies 1,259 miles [2,026.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
    • New York
      • Bronx 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 New York community of Oak Point [Bronx County].
      • Saint Lawrence County
      • This Oak Point is located in Saint Lawrence County and lies 726 miles [1,168.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lawrence County community of Oak Point.
    • Tennessee
      • Wilson County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Oak Point [Wilson County].
    • Texas
      • Denton County
      • This Oak Point is located in Denton County and lies 651 miles [1,047.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Denton County community of Oak Point.
    • Washington
      • Cowlitz County
      • This Oak Point is located in Cowlitz County and lies 1,834 miles [2,951.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oak Point that is located in Clark County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cowlitz County community of Oak Point.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak Point ...

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.

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

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

  • Marshall, which is the Seat of Clark County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Oak Point to Marshall, 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 6 hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 97 miles [156.1 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 586 miles [943.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 23 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,324 miles [10,177.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,056 miles [11,355.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,934 miles [7,940.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oak Point) 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 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 Oak Point 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>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 Oak Point, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Oak Point 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 Point. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2111, Longitude: -87.9760       In this case, the coordinates for Oak Point have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.642 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.191 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.465 degrees.