RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Tennessee >> Sumner County >> Oakvale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oakvale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakvale 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 Oakvale:
    • 36.312551, -86.615551
    • 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 Oakvale
  • 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 Sumner County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumner County
    • Since Oakvale is near Davidson County and also Wilson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Davidson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilson 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 Oakvale

Communities Also Named Oakvale ...

We found six communities that are also named Oakvale.

Within Tennessee, the name Oakvale is unique.

Beyond Tennessee, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Smith 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 Kansas community of Oakvale [Smith County].
    • Mississippi
      • Jefferson 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 Mississippi community of Oakvale [Jefferson County].
    • Missouri
      • Jefferson County
      • This Oakvale is located in Jefferson County and lies 244 miles [392.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Oakvale that is located in Sumner County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Oakvale.
    • New York
      • Saint Lawrence County
      • This Oakvale is located in Saint Lawrence County and lies 798 miles [1,284.3 km]<2> to the northeast of the Oakvale that is located in Sumner County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Lawrence County community of Oakvale.
    • South Carolina
      • Greenville 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 Oakvale [Greenville County].
    • West Virginia
      • Mercer County
      • This Oakvale is located in Mercer County and lies 320 miles [515 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Oakvale that is located in Sumner County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Oakvale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakvale ...

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.

  • Cedarbrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Cedarbrook is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarbrook
  • Cherokee Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cherokee Woods is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee Woods
  • High Chaparral
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • High Chaparral is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Chaparral
  • Indian Forest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Forest is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Forest
  • Indian Lake Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Indian Lake Forest is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lake Forest
  • Meadowvale
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Meadowvale is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowvale
  • Panorama Harbor
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Panorama Harbor is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panorama Harbor
  • Rockland
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Rockland is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockland
  • Rosewood
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Rosewood is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
  • Scottish Highlands
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Scottish Highlands is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scottish Highlands
  • Twin Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Twin Valley is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Valley

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

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

  • Gallatin, which is the Seat of Sumner County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Oakvale to Gallatin, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take 6 hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 553 miles [890 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 22 days and walking would take 32 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,410 miles [10,315.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,129 miles [11,473 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,005 miles [8,054.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Oakvale 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Oakvale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Oakvale 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 Oakvale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.3126, Longitude: -86.6156       In this case, the coordinates for Oakvale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.699 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.702 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.582 degrees.