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 Dale:
34.316265, -79.855341
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.
We found seven communities that share the name Oak Dale.
There is one other community in South Carolina which is also named Oak Dale.
Beyond South Carolina, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Located In South Carolina ...
Clarendon 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 South Carolina community of Oak Dale [Clarendon County].
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Lee County
This Oak Dale is located in Lee County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Oak Dale that is located in Darlington County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Oak Dale.
Florida
Hillsborough County
This Oak Dale is located in Hillsborough County and lies 454 miles [730.6 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Oak Dale that is located in Darlington County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Oak Dale.
Maryland
Harford County
This Oak Dale is located in Harford County and lies 411 miles [661.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Oak Dale that is located in Darlington County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harford County community of Oak Dale.
New Jersey
Hunterdon 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 New Jersey community of Oak Dale [Hunterdon County].
Tennessee
Overton County
This Oak Dale is located in Overton County and lies 334 miles [537.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Oak Dale that is located in Darlington County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Overton County community of Oak Dale.
Texas
Erath 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 Texas community of Oak Dale [Erath County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oak Dale ...
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.
Floyd (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floyd have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Oak Dale to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oak Dale and extending to:
Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 70 miles [112.7 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Oak Dale to Columbia, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take three full days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 352 miles [566.5 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,217 miles [10,005.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,909 miles [11,119 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,792 miles [7,712 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
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 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 Oak Dale 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oak Dale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oak Dale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.3163, Longitude: -79.8553 In this case, the coordinates for Oak Dale 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 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 Oak Dale to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.657 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.773 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.397 degrees.