Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Swainsville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Swainsville and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Swainsville

• 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 Swainsville:
  • 35.294015, -81.651484
  • 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 Swainsville

• 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 Cleveland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Cleveland County
  • Since Swainsville is near Rutherford County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Rutherford County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 Swainsville

Curious and Interesting Names Near Swainsville ...

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.

• Boiling Springs
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Boiling Springs is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boiling Springs
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,617 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boiling Springs <1>
• Dover
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Dover is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
• Flint Hill ‑ Historic
  (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Flint Hill is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flint Hill
• Good ‑ Historic
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Good is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good
• Green ‑ Historic
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Green is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green
• Jones Ferry
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jones Ferry is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Ferry
• Kingstown
  (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Kingstown is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingstown
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 682 people
• Poplar Springs
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Poplar Springs is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Springs
• Rocky Brook
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Rocky Brook is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Brook
• Shanghai
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Shanghai is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shanghai
• Zion
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Zion is located in Cleveland County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Zion

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Swainsville and extending to:

• Shelby, which is the Seat of Cleveland County, lies just to the East.
• Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Swainsville to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 355 miles [571.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
• The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,252 miles [10,061.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,953 miles [11,189.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,831 miles [7,774.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'