Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oscar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oscar and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oscar
- 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 Oscar:
- 39.517498, -97.127523
- 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 Oscar
- 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 Clay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clay County
- Since Oscar is near Washington County and also Riley County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Washington County
- eBird sighting report for Riley 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 Oscar ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Oscar.
Within Kansas, the name Oscar is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, ten are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Oscar lies 744 miles [1,197.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Oscar that is located in Clay County.
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oscar ...
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.
- Agenda
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest) - Aurora
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the west) - Clyde
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clyde have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
- Clyde is located in Cloud County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 647 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clyde <5>
- Cottage Hill
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottage Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
- Cottage Hill is located in Marshall County
- Green
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green
- Green is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 119 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Green <5>
- Greenleaf
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenleaf have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenleaf
- Greenleaf is located in Washington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 303 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greenleaf <5>
- Ladysmith
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south) - Leonardville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonardville
- Leonardville is located in Riley County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 432 people
- Leonardville has also been known as:
- Leonard
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leonardville <5>
- May Day
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May Day
- May Day is located in Riley County
- Randolph
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
- Randolph is located in Riley County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
- Strawberry
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Strawberry is located in Washington County
How Far From Oscar 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 Oscar to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Oscar once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Oscar and extending to:
- Clay Center, which is the Seat of Clay County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Oscar to Clay Center, with an average speed<7> 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.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 84 miles [135.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,073 miles [1,726.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 61 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,637 miles [10,681.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,388 miles [11,889.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,285 miles [8,505.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Clay County: www.claycountyks.org/
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oscar) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oscar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5175, Longitude: -97.1275 In this case, the coordinates for Oscar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Oscar 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 Oscar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Oscar to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.821 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.358 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.862 degrees. |