Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Oscar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oscar and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Oscar
- 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 Oscar:
- 31.050736, -97.262222
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Oscar
- 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 Bell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bell County
- Since Oscar is near Falls County and also Milam County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Falls County
- eBird sighting report for Milam 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Oscar ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Oscar.
Within Texas, the name Oscar is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, ten are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Oscar lies 1,305 miles [2,100.2 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Oscar that is located in Bell County.
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Oscar ...
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.
- Airville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Cyclone
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Joe Lee
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south) - Leedale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Little River
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
- Little River is located in Bell County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Little River <5>
- Meeks
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - New Colony
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Colony have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Colony
- New Colony is located in Bell County
- Red Ranger
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Ranger have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Ranger
- Red Ranger is located in Bell County
- Rogers
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rogers
- Rogers is located in Bell County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,253 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rogers <5>
- Stringtown
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stringtown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stringtown
- Stringtown is located in Bell County
- Temple
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple
- Temple is located in Bell County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 80,761 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Temple <5>
- Terry Chapel
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Terry Chapel have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terry Chapel
- Terry Chapel is located in Falls County
How Far From Oscar 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 Oscar to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Oscar and extending to:
- Belton, which is the Seat of Bell County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Oscar to Belton, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 61 miles [98.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,262 miles [2,031 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 72 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,093 miles [11,415.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,824 miles [12,591.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,701 miles [9,174.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Oscar. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Bell County: www.bellcountytx.com/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Oscar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Oscar) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Oscar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.0507, Longitude: -97.2622 In this case, the coordinates for Oscar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Oscar 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> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Oscar to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.016 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.357 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.042 degrees. |