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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • 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 Blossom:
    • 33.946551, -79.572560
    • 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 Blossom
  • 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 Florence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Florence County
    • Since Blossom is near Marion County and also Williamsburg County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Williamsburg 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 Blossom

Communities Also Named Blossom ...

We found seven communities that are also named Blossom.

Within South Carolina, the name Blossom is unique.

Beyond South Carolina, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Saint Francis County
      • This Blossom is located in Saint Francis County and lies 656 miles [1,055.7 km]<1> to the west of the Blossom that is located in Florence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Francis County community of Blossom.
    • Georgia
      • Rockdale County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Blossom [Rockdale County].
    • Indiana
      • Monroe County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Blossom [Monroe County].
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • New York
      • Erie County
      • This Blossom is located in Erie County and lies 617 miles [993 km]<1> to the north of the Blossom that is located in Florence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Blossom.
    • Tennessee
      • Hawkins County
      • This Blossom is located in Hawkins County and lies 249 miles [400.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Blossom that is located in Florence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hawkins County community of Blossom.
    • Texas
      • Lamar County
      • This Blossom is located in Lamar County and lies 906 miles [1,458.1 km]<1> to the west of the Blossom that is located in Florence County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lamar County community of Blossom.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blossom ...

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.

  • Bass Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Bass Crossroads is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bass Crossroads
  • Butler Crossroads
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Butler Crossroads is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butler Crossroads
  • Catfish Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Catfish Landing is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catfish Landing
  • Evans Crossroads
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Evans Crossroads is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans Crossroads
  • Fleet
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Fleet is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fleet
  • Friendfield
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Friendfield is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendfield
  • Half Moon ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Half Moon is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Half Moon
  • Kingsburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingsburg is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsburg
  • Lee Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Lee Crossroads is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee Crossroads
  • Leo
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Leo is located in Florence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leo

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

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

  • Florence, which is the Seat of Florence County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blossom to Florence, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 83 miles [133.6 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 369 miles [593.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,221 miles [10,011.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,910 miles [11,120.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,795 miles [7,716.8 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 from Point A (ie- Blossom) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Blossom, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Blossom 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.
<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 Blossom 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 Blossom. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9466, Longitude: -79.5726       In this case, the coordinates for Blossom have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.498 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.537 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.401 degrees.