RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Carolina >> Aiken County >> Balltown >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Balltown, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balltown 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 Balltown:
    • 33.591528, -81.724553
    • 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 Balltown
  • 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 Aiken County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Aiken County
    • Since Balltown is near Edgefield County and also Richmond County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Edgefield County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond 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 Balltown

Communities Also Named Balltown ...

We found eight communities that are also named Balltown.

Within South Carolina, the name Balltown is unique.

Beyond South Carolina, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Lake County
      • This Balltown is located in Lake County and lies 1,412 miles [2,272.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Balltown.
    • Iowa
      • Dubuque County
      • This Balltown is located in Dubuque County and lies 796 miles [1,281 km]<1> to the northwest of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dubuque County community of Balltown.
    • Kentucky
      • Nelson County
      • This Balltown is located in Nelson County and lies 356 miles [572.9 km]<1> to the northwest of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nelson County community of Balltown.
      • Whitley County
      • This Balltown is located in Whitley County and lies 256 miles [412 km] to the north northwest of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Whitley County community of Balltown.
    • Louisiana
      • Washington Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Balltown [Washington Parish].
    • New York
      • Chautauqua County
      • This Balltown is located in Chautauqua County and lies 631 miles [1,015.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Balltown.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Forest County
      • This Balltown is located in Forest County and lies 570 miles [917.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Forest County community of Balltown.
    • Tennessee
      • McMinn County
      • This Balltown is located in McMinn County and lies 199 miles [320.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Balltown that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McMinn County community of Balltown.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Balltown ...

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.

  • Deerwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Deerwood is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerwood
  • Eureka
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Eureka is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Foxchase
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Foxchase is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxchase
  • Gloverville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Graniteville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Gregg Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Gregg Park is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregg Park
  • Hidden Haven
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Hidden Haven is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Haven
  • Hillview
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hillview is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillview
  • Huntcliff
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Huntcliff is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntcliff
  • Hunters Glen
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Hunters Glen is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Glen
  • Mixville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Mixville is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mixville
  • Pinecrest
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Pinecrest is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinecrest
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Quail Hollow
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Quail Hollow is located in Aiken County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hollow
    • Roseland
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Roseland is located in Aiken County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
    • Stone Gap
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Stone Gap is located in Aiken County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Gap
    • Sunny Brook
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Sunny Brook is located in Aiken County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunny Brook
    • Wood Valley
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
      • Wood Valley is located in Aiken County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Valley

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

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

  • Aiken, which is the Seat of Aiken County, lies just to the South.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 48 miles [77.2 km]<1> to the northeast (NE). If you could walk a straight line from Balltown to Columbia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 449 miles [722.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,331 miles [10,188.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,025 miles [11,305.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,907 miles [7,897.1 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Balltown) 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 Balltown 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 Balltown 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 Balltown. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.5915, Longitude: -81.7246       In this case, the coordinates for Balltown have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.708 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.876 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.304 degrees.