Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oval, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oval and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oval
- 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 Oval:
- 36.330405, -81.488159
- 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 Oval
- 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 Ashe County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Ashe County
- Since Oval is near Watauga County and also Wilkes County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Watauga County
- eBird sighting report for Wilkes 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 Oval ...
We found three communities that share the name Oval.
Within North Carolina, the name Oval is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Georgia
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oval ...
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.
- Beaver Creek
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beaver Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Creek
- Beaver Creek is located in Ashe County
- Deep Gap
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deep Gap
- Deep Gap is located in Watauga County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deep Gap <4>
- Fleetwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fleetwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleetwood
- Fleetwood is located in Ashe County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fleetwood <4>
- Idlewild
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast) - Nathans Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nathans Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathans Creek
- Nathans Creek is located in Ashe County
- Orion
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Soda Hill
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest) - Solo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest) - Stony Fork
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Fork
- Stony Fork is located in Watauga County
- Trout
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Oval 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 Oval to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oval and extending to:
- Jefferson, which is the Seat of Ashe County, lies just to the North.
- Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Oval to Raleigh, with an average speed<5>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 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 301 miles [484.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,198 miles [9,974.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,903 miles [11,109.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,781 miles [7,694.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Oval. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Ashe County: www.ashecountygov.com/
The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.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 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 Oval 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 '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- Oval) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oval. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3304, Longitude: -81.4882 In this case, the coordinates for Oval have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Oval to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.598 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.144 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.431 degrees. |