Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oberlin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oberlin and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oberlin
- 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 Oberlin:
- 44.693054, -86.220096
- 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 Oberlin
- 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 Benzie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Benzie County
- Since Oberlin is near Leelanau County and also Manistee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Leelanau County
- eBird sighting report for Manistee 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 Oberlin ...
We found nine communities that share the name Oberlin.
There is one other community in Michigan which is also named Oberlin.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Michigan ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alberta
- This Oberlin lies 1,319 miles [2,122.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oberlin that is located in Benzie County.
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Allen Parish
- This Oberlin is located in Allen Parish and lies 1,034 miles [1,664.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Oberlin that is located in Benzie County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allen Parish community of Oberlin.
- Calcasieu 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 Oberlin [Calcasieu Parish].
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Alberta
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oberlin ...
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.
- Bear Lake
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Lake
- Bear Lake is located in Manistee County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 288 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bear Lake <3>
- Edgewater
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Empire
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Empire have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
- Empire is located in Leelanau County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 375 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Empire <3>
- Glen Haven ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Haven
- Glen Haven is located in Leelanau County
- Henry ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast) - Honor
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Honor have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honor
- Honor is located in Benzie County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 331 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Honor <3>
- Jacktown ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast) - Lake Ann
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Ann have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ann
- Lake Ann is located in Benzie County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 271 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Ann <3>
- Malcolm
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Pilgrim
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Oberlin 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 Oberlin 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<6> community of Oberlin once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Oberlin and extending to:
- Beulah, which is the Seat of Benzie County, lies just to the Southeast.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Oberlin to Lansing, with an average speed<7>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 618 miles [994.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,996 miles [9,649.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,740 miles [10,847 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,629 miles [7,449.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Benzie County: www.berriencounty.org/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oberlin) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oberlin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.6931, Longitude: -86.2201 In this case, the coordinates for Oberlin 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 Oberlin 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> | 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> | 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 Oberlin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Oberlin 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 313.425 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.59 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.964 degrees. |