RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Berks County >> Oakbrook >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oakbrook, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakbrook 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 Oakbrook:
    • 40.321172, -75.934535
    • 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 Oakbrook
  • 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 Berks County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Berks County
    • Since Oakbrook is near Lancaster County and also Chester County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chester 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 Oakbrook

Communities Also Named Oakbrook ...

We found eight communities that are also named Oakbrook.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Oakbrook is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Newton County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Newton County and lies 645 miles [1,038 km]<1> to the southwest of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Newton County community of Oakbrook.
    • Kentucky
      • Boone County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Boone County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<1> to the west of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boone County community of Oakbrook.
    • Louisiana
      • East Baton Rouge Parish
      • This Oakbrook is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and lies 1,092 miles [1,757.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the East Baton Rouge Parish community of Oakbrook.
    • New York
      • Rockland County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Rockland County and lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockland County community of Oakbrook.
    • Oregon
      • Wasco County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Wasco County and lies 2,277 miles [3,664.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wasco County community of Oakbrook.
    • South Carolina
      • Dorchester County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Dorchester County and lies 559 miles [899.6 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dorchester County community of Oakbrook.
    • Washington
      • Pierce 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 Washington community of Oakbrook [Pierce County].
    • West Virginia
      • Wood County
      • This Oakbrook is located in Wood County and lies 306 miles [492.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Oakbrook that is located in Berks County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wood County community of Oakbrook.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakbrook ...

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.

  • Birdland
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Birdland is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdland
  • Clover Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Clover Park is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clover Park
  • Cornwall Terrace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Cornwall Terrace is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall Terrace
  • Flying Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Flying Hills is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flying Hills
  • Freemanville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Freemanville is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freemanville
  • Grill
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Grill is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grill
  • Lincoln Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Lincoln Park is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Park
  • Mountain Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Mountain Park is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Park
  • Neversink
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Neversink is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neversink
  • Pheasant Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pheasant Run is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pheasant Run
  • Reading
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Ridge Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Ridge Park is located in Berks County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge Park

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

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

  • Reading, which is the Seat of Berks County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Oakbrook to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 114 miles [183.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,791 miles [9,319.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,500 miles [10,460.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,376 miles [7,042.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oakbrook) 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 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 Oakbrook 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Oakbrook 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 Oakbrook. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3212, Longitude: -75.9345       In this case, the coordinates for Oakbrook have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.129 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.798 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.672 degrees.