RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Northampton County >> Oakland Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oakland Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakland Park 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 Oakland Park:
    • 37.510690, -75.821319
    • 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 Oakland Park
  • 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 Northampton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Northampton County
    • Since Oakland Park is near Accomack County and also Mathews County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Accomack County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mathews 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 Oakland Park

Communities Also Named Oakland Park ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Oakland Park.

Within Virginia, the name Oakland Park is unique.

Beyond Virginia, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Broward County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Broward County and lies 822 miles [1,322.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Broward County community of Oakland Park.
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Hillsborough County and lies 760 miles [1,223.1 km] to the south southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Oakland Park.
      • Lake County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Lake County and lies 689 miles [1,108.8 km] to the south southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Oakland Park.
    • Georgia
      • Chatham County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Chatham County and lies 481 miles [774.1 km]<1> to the southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chatham County community of Oakland Park.
      • Muscogee County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Muscogee County and lies 625 miles [1,005.8 km] to the west southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Muscogee County community of Oakland Park.
    • Kansas
      • Wyandotte 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 Kansas community of Oakland Park [Wyandotte County].
    • Maryland
      • Baltimore County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Baltimore County and lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baltimore County community of Oakland Park.
    • Missouri
      • Jasper County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Jasper County and lies 1,023 miles [1,646.4 km]<1> to the west of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Oakland Park.
    • North Carolina
      • Gaston County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Gaston County and lies 335 miles [539.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gaston County community of Oakland Park.
      • Rowan County
      • This Oakland Park is located in Rowan County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km] to the west southwest of the Oakland Park that is located in Northampton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rowan County community of Oakland Park.
    • Ohio
      • Franklin 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 Ohio community of Oakland Park [Franklin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakland Park ...

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.

  • Bacon Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Bacon Hill is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bacon Hill
  • Cats Bridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Cats Bridge is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cats Bridge
  • Clearview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Clearview is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Coal Kiln Crossing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Coal Kiln Crossing is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Kiln Crossing
  • Franktown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Hare Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Hare Valley is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hare Valley
  • Little Johnsontown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Little Johnsontown is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Johnsontown
  • Mappsburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mappsburg is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mappsburg
  • Marionville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Marionville is located in Northampton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marionville
  • Middlesex
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Middlesex is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middlesex
  • Painter
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Savage Town
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Savage Town is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Savage Town
  • Shields
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Shields is located in Accomack County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shields

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

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

  • Eastville, which is the Seat of Northampton County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Oakland Park to Eastville, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 88 miles [141.6 km] to the west (W). 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 116 miles [186.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving 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 5,904 miles [9,501.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,599 miles [10,620.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,480 miles [7,209.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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- Oakland Park) 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 Oakland Park 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 Oakland Park 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 Oakland Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.5107, Longitude: -75.8213       In this case, the coordinates for Oakland Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.271 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.522 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.752 degrees.