RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Orleans County >> Oak Orchard >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oak Orchard, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oak Orchard 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 Orchard:
    • 43.274225, -78.332524
    • 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 Orchard
  • 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 Orleans County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orleans County
    • Since Oak Orchard is near Niagara County and also Genesee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Niagara County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Genesee 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 Orchard

Communities Also Named Oak Orchard ...

We found six communities that are also named Oak Orchard.

There is one other community in New York that is also named Oak Orchard.

Beyond New York, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, five are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In New York ...
    • Onondaga County
      • This Oak Orchard is located in Onondaga County and lies 106 miles [170.6 km]<1> to the east of the Oak Orchard that is located in Orleans County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Oak Orchard.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Sussex County
      • This Oak Orchard is located in Sussex County and lies 362 miles [582.6 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Oak Orchard that is located in Orleans County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of Oak Orchard.
    • Maryland
      • Frederick County
      • This Oak Orchard is located in Frederick County and lies 268 miles [431.3 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Oak Orchard that is located in Orleans County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Frederick County community of Oak Orchard.
      • Prince George's County
      • 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 Maryland community of Oak Orchard [Prince George's County].
    • Ontario
      • This Oak Orchard lies 83 miles [133.6 km]<1> to the north of the Oak Orchard that is located in Orleans County.
    • Wisconsin
      • Oconto County
      • This Oak Orchard is located in Oconto County and lies 487 miles [783.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oak Orchard that is located in Orleans County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oconto County community of Oak Orchard.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak Orchard ...

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.

  • Childs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Childs is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
  • County Line
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • County Line is located in Niagara County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for County Line
  • Eagle Harbor
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Eagle Harbor is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Harbor
  • Eagle Harbor Station
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Eagle Harbor Station is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Harbor Station
  • Five Corners
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Five Corners is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Kuckville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Kuckville is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kuckville
  • Point Breeze
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Point Breeze is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Point Breeze
  • Rock Ledge Beach
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rock Ledge Beach is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Ledge Beach
  • Sunset Beach
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Sunset Beach is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach
  • Toms Landing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Toms Landing is located in Orleans County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Toms Landing

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oak Orchard and extending to:

  • Albion, which is the Seat of Orleans County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 234 miles [376.6 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Oak Orchard to Albany, 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 14 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 309 miles [497.3 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 18 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,764 miles [9,276.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,489 miles [10,443 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,366 miles [7,026.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Oak Orchard) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Orchard 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 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 Orchard 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 Orchard. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.2742, Longitude: -78.3325       In this case, the coordinates for Oak Orchard have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.348 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.642 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.536 degrees.