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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dinkins, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dinkins 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 Dinkins:
    • 33.952379, -80.386748
    • 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 Dinkins
  • 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 Sumter County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sumter County
    • Since Dinkins is near Lee County and also Clarendon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clarendon 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 Dinkins

Communities Also Named Dinkins ...

We found two communities that are also named Dinkins.

Within South Carolina, the name Dinkins is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Suwannee 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 Dinkins [Suwannee County].
    • Texas
      • Brazos County
      • This Dinkins is located in Brazos County and lies 953 miles [1,533.7 km]<2> to the west of the Dinkins that is located in Sumter County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brazos County community of Dinkins.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dinkins ...

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.

  • Burns Down
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Burns Down is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burns Down
  • Cherryvale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Cherryvale is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherryvale
  • Edgewater
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Edgewater is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater
  • Flowers Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Flowers Heights is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowers Heights
  • Greenwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Greenwood is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hearthstone
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Hearthstone is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hearthstone
  • Iris Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Iris Heights is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iris Heights
  • Kingman Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingman Heights is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingman Heights
  • Mulberry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Mulberry is located in Sumter County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mulberry
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Rainbow Falls
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Rainbow Falls is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Falls
    • Shady Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Shady Grove is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove
    • Summer View
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Summer View is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summer View
    • Twin Lakes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Twin Lakes is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
    • Walnut Hills
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Walnut Hills is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Hills
    • Winter Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Winter Park is located in Sumter County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winter Park

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

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

  • Sumter, which is the Seat of Sumter County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 37 miles [59.5 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could walk a straight line from Dinkins to Columbia, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 388 miles [624.4 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,257 miles [10,069.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,948 miles [11,181.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,831 miles [7,774.7 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 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 Dinkins 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Dinkins) 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 Dinkins 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 Dinkins. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9524, Longitude: -80.3867       In this case, the coordinates for Dinkins have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.955 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.063 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.702 degrees.