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 Bleases Crossroads:
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 Bleases Crossroads
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bleases Crossroads ...
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.
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers included the distance from a community such as Bleases Crossroads to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Bleases Crossroads and extending to:
Saluda, which is the Seat of Saluda County, lies just to the South Southeast.
Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 44 miles [70.8 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Bleases Crossroads to Columbia, with an average speed<3> 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 426 miles [685.6 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 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,314 miles [10,161.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,011 miles [11,283.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,891 miles [7,871.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bleases Crossroads) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>
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.
<4>
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 Bleases Crossroads 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 Bleases Crossroads. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0587, Longitude: -81.8129 In this case, the coordinates for Bleases Crossroads have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.768 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.012 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.211 degrees.