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:
37.568921, -88.514478
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.
We found seventeen communities that share the name Oak.
Within Illinois, the name Oak is unique.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seventeen communities, sixteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Baldwin County
This Oak is located in Baldwin County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<1> to the south of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baldwin County community of Oak.
Florida
Marion County
This Oak is located in Marion County and lies 682 miles [1,097.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Oak.
Georgia
Lowndes County
This Oak is located in Lowndes County and lies 549 miles [883.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lowndes County community of Oak.
Kansas
Jefferson County
This community is historic<2> and although located in Jefferson County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Oak.
Seward County
This community is historic and although located in Seward County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seward County community of Oak.
Michigan
Wayne County
This Oak is located in Wayne County and lies 433 miles [696.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Oak.
Missouri
DeKalb County
This Oak is located in DeKalb County and lies 361 miles [581 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the DeKalb County community of Oak.
Nebraska
Nuckolls County
This Oak is located in Nuckolls County and lies 536 miles [862.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nuckolls County community of Oak.
Nevada
Eureka County
This community is historic<2> and although located in Eureka County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eureka County community of Oak.
New Brunswick
This Oak lies 1,217 miles [1,958.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
Ohio
Highland County
This community is historic<2> and although located in Highland County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Highland County community of Oak.
Monroe County
This Oak is located in Monroe County and lies 434 miles [698.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Oak that is located in Pope County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monroe County community of Oak.
Oregon
Coos County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oregon community of Oak [Coos County].
Texas
Ellis County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Oak [Ellis County].
Virginia
New Kent County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Oak [New Kent County].
West Virginia
Wood County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Oak [Wood County].
Wisconsin
Price County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Oak [Price County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak ...
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.
Derby (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Derby have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hartsville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
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 to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oak and extending to:
Golconda, which is the Seat of Pope County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Oak to Golconda, with an average speed<6> 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.
Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 164 miles [263.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 628 miles [1,010.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,425 miles [10,340 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,153 miles [11,511.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,029 miles [8,093.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
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) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5689, Longitude: -88.5145 In this case, the coordinates for Oak have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Oak, 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 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 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>
An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>
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.
<7>
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 to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.941 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.306 degrees.
<10>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.118 degrees.