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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Blue Spring, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Spring 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 Blue Spring:
    • 34.422932, -80.329794
    • 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 Blue Spring
  • 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 Kershaw County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kershaw County
    • Since Blue Spring is near Chesterfield County and also Darlington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chesterfield County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Darlington 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 Blue Spring

Communities Also Named Blue Spring ...

We found eight communities that are also named Blue Spring.

Within South Carolina, the name Blue Spring is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Morgan 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 Alabama community of Blue Spring [Morgan County].
    • Florida
      • Marion 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 Florida community of Blue Spring [Marion County].
    • Georgia
      • Catoosa County
      • This Blue Spring is located in Catoosa County and lies 279 miles [449 km]<2> to the west of the Blue Spring that is located in Kershaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catoosa County community of Blue Spring.
      • Gordon 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 Blue Spring [Gordon County].
      • Worth County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Blue Spring [Worth County].
    • Kentucky
      • Trigg County
      • This Blue Spring is located in Trigg County and lies 458 miles [737.1 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Blue Spring that is located in Kershaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Trigg County community of Blue Spring.
    • Tennessee
      • Carter County
      • This Blue Spring is located in Carter County and lies 167 miles [268.8 km]<2> to the northwest of the Blue Spring that is located in Kershaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carter County community of Blue Spring.
    • West Virginia
      • Randolph County
      • This Blue Spring is located in Randolph County and lies 284 miles [457.1 km]<2> to the north of the Blue Spring that is located in Kershaw County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Blue Spring.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Spring ...

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.

  • Big Springs
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Big Springs is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Springs
  • Clyde
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Clyde is located in Darlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Green Hill
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Green Hill is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Hill
  • Junction ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Junction is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Junction
  • Kellytown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Kellytown is located in Darlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kellytown
  • Pine Ridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Pine Ridge is located in Darlington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
  • Tabernacle ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Tabernacle is located in Chesterfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tabernacle
  • Tillers Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Tillers Ferry is located in Kershaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tillers Ferry
  • Tillersville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Tillersville is located in Kershaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tillersville

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Blue Spring once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Blue Spring and extending to:

  • Camden, which is the Seat of Kershaw County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Spring to Camden, 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 6 hours.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 49 miles [78.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 358 miles [576.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,233 miles [10,031 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,927 miles [11,147.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,809 miles [7,739.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Blue Spring 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blue Spring) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Blue Spring, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Blue Spring 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 Blue Spring. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4229, Longitude: -80.3298       In this case, the coordinates for Blue Spring have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.926 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.097 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.544 degrees.