RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Cook County >> Oakton >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oakton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakton and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Oakton:
    • 42.026698, -87.671169
    • 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 Oakton
  • 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 Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Since Oakton is near Lake County and also DuPage County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DuPage 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 Oakton

Communities Also Named Oakton ...

We found ten communities that are also named Oakton.

Within Illinois, the name Oakton is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Cobb County
      • This Oakton is located in Cobb County and lies 581 miles [935 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cobb County community of Oakton.
      • Walker County
      • This Oakton is located in Walker County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km] to the south southeast of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Oakton.
    • Iowa
      • Scott 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 Iowa community of Oakton [Scott County].
    • Kentucky
      • Hickman County
      • This Oakton is located in Hickman County and lies 377 miles [606.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hickman County community of Oakton.
    • Missouri
      • Barton County
      • This Oakton is located in Barton County and lies 474 miles [762.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barton County community of Oakton.
    • North Carolina
      • Robeson County
      • This Oakton is located in Robeson County and lies 698 miles [1,123.3 km]<1> to the southeast of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Robeson County community of Oakton.
    • South Carolina
      • Marion 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 South Carolina community of Oakton [Marion County].
    • Virginia
      • Fairfax County
      • This Oakton is located in Fairfax County and lies 586 miles [943.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Oakton.
    • West Virginia
      • Berkeley 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 West Virginia community of Oakton [Berkeley County].
      • Clay County
      • This Oakton is located in Clay County and lies 425 miles [684 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Oakton that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Oakton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakton ...

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.

  • Birchwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Birchwood is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birchwood
  • California Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • California Park is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for California Park
  • Cedar Lawn
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Cedar Lawn is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Lawn
  • Edgewater
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Edgewater is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater
  • Gross Point
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Gross Point is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gross Point
  • Lincoln Square ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lincoln Square is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Square
  • Lincolnwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Ravenswood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Ravenswood is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
  • Ravenswood Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Ravenswood Gardens is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood Gardens
  • Ravenswood Place
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Ravenswood Place is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood Place
  • Rogers Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Rogers Park is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers Park
  • Summerdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Summerdale is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerdale
  • Sunnyside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Sunnyside is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside
  • Swedentown
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Swedentown is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swedentown

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

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

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Oakton to Chicago, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 186 miles [299.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 598 miles [962.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 34 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,176 miles [9,939.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,916 miles [11,130.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,800 miles [7,724.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Oakton) 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 Oakton 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Oakton 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 Oakton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.0267, Longitude: -87.6712       In this case, the coordinates for Oakton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.46 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.38 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.543 degrees.