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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cross Anchor, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cross Anchor 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 Cross Anchor:
    • 34.642753, -81.858076
    • 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 Cross Anchor
  • 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 Spartanburg County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spartanburg County
    • Since Cross Anchor is near Union County and also Laurens County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurens 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 Cross Anchor

Communities Also Named Cross Anchor ...

We found one communities that are also named Cross Anchor.

Within South Carolina, the name Cross Anchor is unique.

Beyond South Carolina, there is another community also named Cross Anchor in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Tennessee
      • Greene 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 Tennessee community of Cross Anchor [Greene County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cross Anchor ...

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.

  • Bishop Town ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Bishop Town is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishop Town
  • Black Jack Valley ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Black Jack Valley is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Jack Valley
  • Cross Keys
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Cross Keys is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Crows ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Crows is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crows
  • Dutchman
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Dutchman is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchman
  • Hillsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Hillsville is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillsville
  • Hobbyville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hobbyville is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hobbyville
  • Long Branch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Long Branch is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Martin Crossroads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Martin Crossroads is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Crossroads
  • Wildcat ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Wildcat is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Cross Anchor and extending to:

  • Spartanburg, which is the Seat of Spartanburg County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Cross Anchor to Spartanburg, with an average speed<3> 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 64 miles [103 km] to the southeast (SE). 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 396 miles [637.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,290 miles [10,122.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,989 miles [11,247.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,868 miles [7,834.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Cross Anchor 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cross Anchor) 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 Cross Anchor 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 Cross Anchor. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6428, Longitude: -81.8581    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.804 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.137 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.068 degrees.