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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Barksdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barksdale 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 Barksdale:
    • 34.569566, -82.087324
    • 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 Barksdale
  • 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 Laurens County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurens County
    • Since Barksdale is near Spartanburg County and also Greenville County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spartanburg County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenville 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 Barksdale

Communities Also Named Barksdale ...

We found nine communities that are also named Barksdale.

There is one other community in South Carolina that is also named Barksdale.

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

  • Communities Located In South Carolina ...
    • Greenville County
      • This Barksdale is located in Greenville County and lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greenville County community of Barksdale.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Washington 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 Georgia community of Barksdale [Washington County].
    • Maryland
      • Cecil County
      • This Barksdale is located in Cecil County and lies 492 miles [791.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cecil County community of Barksdale.
    • Mississippi
      • Quitman County
      • This Barksdale is located in Quitman County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<1> to the west of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Quitman County community of Barksdale.
    • Texas
      • Edwards County
      • This Barksdale is located in Edwards County and lies 1,099 miles [1,768.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Edwards County community of Barksdale.
    • Virginia
      • Halifax County
      • This Barksdale is located in Halifax County and lies 216 miles [347.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Halifax County community of Barksdale.
      • Prince William County
      • This Barksdale is located in Prince William County and lies 385 miles [619.6 km] to the northeast of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Prince William County community of Barksdale.
    • West Virginia
      • Summers County
      • This Barksdale is located in Summers County and lies 226 miles [363.7 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summers County community of Barksdale.
    • Wisconsin
      • Bayfield County
      • This Barksdale is located in Bayfield County and lies 951 miles [1,530.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Barksdale that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bayfield County community of Barksdale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Barksdale ...

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.

  • Doubling ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Doubling is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doubling
  • Edens ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Edens is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edens
  • Gray Court
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Green Pond
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Green Pond is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Pond
  • Hickory Tavern
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Hickory Tavern is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Tavern
  • Hillsville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Hillsville is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsville
  • Martin Crossroads
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Martin Crossroads is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Crossroads
  • Powers Shop ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Powers Shop is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers Shop
  • Reedy River ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Reedy River is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reedy River
  • Tumbling Shoals ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Tumbling Shoals is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tumbling Shoals

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

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

  • Laurens, which is the Seat of Laurens County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Barksdale to Columbia, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 409 miles [658.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,303 miles [10,143.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,002 miles [11,268.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,882 miles [7,856.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Barksdale) 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 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 Barksdale 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 Barksdale 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 Barksdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.5696, Longitude: -82.0873       In this case, the coordinates for Barksdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.936 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.278 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.177 degrees.