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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Browns Hill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Browns Hill 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 Browns Hill:
    • 33.357820, -81.856665
    • 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 Browns Hill
  • 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 Browns Hill is near Richmond County and also Burke County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke 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 Browns Hill

Communities Also Named Browns Hill ...

We found three communities that are also named Browns Hill.

Within South Carolina, the name Browns Hill is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Pine 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 Minnesota community of Browns Hill [Pine County].
    • Ontario
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Quebec
      • This Browns Hill lies 964 miles [1,551.4 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Browns Hill that is located in Aiken County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Browns Hill ...

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.

  • Apple Valley
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Apple Valley is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apple Valley
  • Bush ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Bush is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
  • Grays Landing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Grays Landing is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays Landing
  • Hollow Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hollow Creek is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollow Creek
  • Mechanic Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Mechanic Hill is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Hill
  • Nixon ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Sand Bar Ferry
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Sand Bar Ferry is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Bar Ferry
  • Silver Bluff Ferry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Silver Bluff Ferry is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Bluff Ferry
  • Spiderweb
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Spiderweb is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spiderweb
  • Twiggs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Twiggs is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twiggs

How Far From Browns Hill 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 Browns Hill 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<3> community of Browns Hill once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Browns Hill and extending to:

  • Aiken, which is the Seat of Aiken County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<2> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Browns Hill to Aiken, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 64 miles [103 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 467 miles [751.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 27 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,348 miles [10,216.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,041 miles [11,331.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,923 miles [7,922.8 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Browns Hill 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Browns Hill) 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 Browns Hill, 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 Browns Hill 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 Browns Hill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3578, Longitude: -81.8567       In this case, the coordinates for Browns Hill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.778 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.923 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.416 degrees.