RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Transylvania County >> Oak Woods >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Oak Woods:
    • 35.277892, -82.653457
    • 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 Oak Woods
  • 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 Transylvania County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Transylvania County
    • Since Oak Woods is near Henderson County and also Haywood County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Henderson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Haywood 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 Oak Woods

Communities Also Named Oak Woods ...

We found two communities that are also named Oak Woods.

Within North Carolina, the name Oak Woods is unique.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Oak Woods [Cook County].
    • Kentucky
      • Fleming County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Oak Woods [Fleming County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak Woods ...

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.

  • Bass Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Bass Lake is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bass Lake
  • Falls Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Falls Creek is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Creek
  • Glen Cannon
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Glen Cannon is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Cannon
  • Holly Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Holly Springs is located in Henderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
  • Knob Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Knob Creek is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Creek
  • Knob Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Knob Hill is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Hill
  • Knob Ridge
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Knob Ridge is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knob Ridge
  • Little River
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Little River is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
  • Mountain View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Mountain View is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain View
  • Seven Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Seven Springs is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Springs
  • Still Meadows
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Still Meadows is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Still Meadows
  • Stoney Brook
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Stoney Brook is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Brook
  • Sweetwater Farms
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Sweetwater Farms is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater Farms
  • Turkey Pen Gap
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Turkey Pen Gap is located in Transylvania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turkey Pen Gap

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Oak Woods and extending to:

  • Brevard, which is the Seat of Transylvania County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 228 miles [366.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Oak Woods to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 397 miles [638.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,295 miles [10,130.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,999 miles [11,263.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,877 miles [7,848.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Woods 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oak Woods) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Woods 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 Oak Woods. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.2779, Longitude: -82.6535       In this case, the coordinates for Oak Woods have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.278 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.772 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.205 degrees.