Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Royal Oak, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Royal Oak and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Royal Oak
- 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 Royal Oak:
- 42.489855, -83.144269
- 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 Royal Oak
- 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 Oakland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Oakland County
- Since Royal Oak is near Macomb County and also Wayne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Macomb County
- eBird sighting report for Wayne 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 Royal Oak ...
We found seven communities that share the name Royal Oak.
Within Michigan, the name Royal Oak is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- British Columbia
- This Royal Oak lies 1,967 miles [3,165.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Royal Oak that is located in Oakland County.
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Talbot County
- This Royal Oak is located in Talbot County and lies 447 miles [719.4 km]<2> to the southeast of the Royal Oak that is located in Oakland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talbot County community of Royal Oak.
- Wicomico County
- This Royal Oak is located in Wicomico County and lies 480 miles [772.5 km] to the southeast of the Royal Oak that is located in Oakland County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wicomico County community of Royal Oak.
- Missouri
- Tennessee
Curious and Interesting Names Near Royal 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.
- Beech
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest) - Big Beaver
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Beaver have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Beaver
- Big Beaver is located in Oakland County
- Center Line
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Line have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Line
- Center Line is located in Macomb County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 8,090 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center Line <4>
- Charing Cross
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charing Cross have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charing Cross
- Charing Cross is located in Oakland County
- Clarenceville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clarenceville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarenceville
- Clarenceville is located in Oakland County
- Ferndale
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
- Ferndale is located in Oakland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 20,198 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ferndale <4>
- Franklin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Franklin
- Franklin is located in Oakland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,221 people
- Franklin has also been known as:
- Franklin Village
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Franklin <4>
- Oak Grove
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest) - Pleasant Ridge
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
- Pleasant Ridge is located in Oakland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,403 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Ridge <4>
- Plumb Brook ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Plumb Brook. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumb Brook
- Plumb Brook is located in Macomb County
- Plumb Brook has also been known as:
- Plum Brook
- Plumbrook Village
- Plumbrook
- Red Run Corners ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Red Run Corners. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Run Corners
- Red Run Corners is located in Macomb County
- Roseville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville
- Roseville is located in Macomb County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 46,535 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Roseville <4>
- Spinnings ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Royal Oak to ...
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 city such as Royal Oak to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Royal Oak and extending to:
- Pontiac, which is the Seat of Oakland County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Royal Oak to Pontiac, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 73 miles [117.5 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 most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 404 miles [650.2 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,985 miles [9,631.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,717 miles [10,810 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,596 miles [7,396.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Royal Oak: www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us/
The official website for Oakland County: www.co.oakland.mi.us/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Royal 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. |
| <2> | 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- Royal Oak) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Royal Oak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4899, Longitude: -83.1443 |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Royal 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 311.481 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.061 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.169 degrees. |