RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Coal County >> Olney >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Olney:
    • 34.472592, -96.361110
    • 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 Olney
  • 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 Coal County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Coal County
    • Since Olney is near Johnston County and also Atoka County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnston County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Atoka 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 Olney

Communities Also Named Olney ...

We found seventeen communities that are also named Olney.

Within Oklahoma, the name Olney is unique.

Beyond Oklahoma, we know of seventeen communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Pickens County
      • This Olney is located in Pickens County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km]<1> to the east of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pickens County community of Olney.
    • California
      • Shasta County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Shasta County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shasta County community of Olney.
    • Colorado
      • Bent County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Olney [Bent County].
    • Georgia
      • Bulloch County
      • This Olney is located in Bulloch County and lies 871 miles [1,401.7 km]<1> to the east of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bulloch County community of Olney.
    • Illinois
      • Richland County
      • This Olney is located in Richland County and lies 544 miles [875.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of Olney.
    • Kansas
      • Rush County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Olney [Rush County].
    • Kentucky
      • Hopkins County
      • This Olney is located in Hopkins County and lies 516 miles [830.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hopkins County community of Olney.
    • Maryland
      • Montgomery County
      • This Olney is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,111 miles [1,788 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Olney.
    • Michigan
      • Shiawassee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Olney [Shiawassee County].
    • Mississippi
      • Neshoba County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Olney [Neshoba County].
    • Missouri
      • Lincoln County
      • This Olney is located in Lincoln County and lies 425 miles [684 km]<1> to the northeast of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Olney.
    • Montana
      • Flathead County
      • This Olney is located in Flathead County and lies 1,346 miles [2,166.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Flathead County community of Olney.
    • Ohio
      • Hancock County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Hancock County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Olney.
    • Oregon
      • Clatsop County
      • This Olney is located in Clatsop County and lies 1,639 miles [2,637.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clatsop County community of Olney.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia County
      • This Olney is located in Philadelphia County and lies 1,225 miles [1,971.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Philadelphia County community of Olney.
    • Texas
      • Young County
      • This Olney is located in Young County and lies 157 miles [252.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Olney that is located in Coal County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Young County community of Olney.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Olney [King County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Olney ...

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.

  • Bromide
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Bromide Junction
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bromide Junction is located in Johnston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bromide Junction
  • Cairo
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cairo is located in Coal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cairo
  • Coil
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Coil is located in Pontotoc County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coil
  • Cook
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cook is located in Atoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cook
  • Cottonwood
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cottonwood is located in Coal County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
  • Hopewell
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Hopewell is located in Atoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hopewell
  • Jesse
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jesse is located in Pontotoc County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jesse
  • Stonewall
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Stringtown
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)

How Far From Olney to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Olney to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Coalgate, which is the Seat of Coal County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Olney to Coalgate, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Oklahoma City, which is the State Capital of Oklahoma, lies 94 miles [151.3 km] to the northwest (NW). 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 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,110 miles [1,786.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 63 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,879 miles [11,070.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,616 miles [12,256.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,497 miles [8,846.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Olney) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Olney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Olney 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.
<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 Olney 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 Olney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4726, Longitude: -96.3611       In this case, the coordinates for Olney have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.849 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.592 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.256 degrees.