Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alston, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alston and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alston
- 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 Alston:
- 34.243481, -81.316763
- 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 Alston
- 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 Fairfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Fairfield County
- Since Alston is near Newberry County and also Richland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Newberry County
- eBird sighting report for Richland 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 Alston ...
We found nine communities that share the name Alston.
Within South Carolina, the name Alston is unique.
Beyond South Carolina, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Montgomery County
- This Alston is located in Montgomery County and lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Alston that is located in Fairfield County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Alston.
- Stewart 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 Georgia community of Alston [Stewart County].
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alston ...
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.
- Cravenhill ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cravenhill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cravenhill
- Cravenhill is located in Newberry County
- Dutchman Shores
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dutchman Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchman Shores
- Dutchman Shores is located in Lexington County
- Jenkinsville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkinsville
- Jenkinsville is located in Fairfield County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 42 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jenkinsville <5>
- Jennings
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Little Mountain
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Mountain
- Little Mountain is located in Newberry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 295 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Little Mountain <5>
- Littleton
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Peak
(Less than 2 miles to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peak
- Peak is located in Newberry County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 65 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Peak <5>
- Rock Hill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Hill
- Rock Hill is located in Fairfield County
- Sueville ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Summerville
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summerville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerville
- Summerville is located in Richland County
How Far From Alston 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 Alston to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alston and extending to:
- Winnsboro, which is the Seat of Fairfield County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Alston to Winnsboro, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
- Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 23 miles [37 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 399 miles [642.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,284 miles [10,113.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,980 miles [11,233.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,861 miles [7,823 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Alston. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.gov/
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 Alston 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Alston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2435, Longitude: -81.3168 In this case, the coordinates for Alston have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Alston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Alston 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 310.487 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.715 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.971 degrees. |