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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gideon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gideon 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 Gideon:
    • 33.952110, -79.222267
    • 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 Gideon
  • 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 Horry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Horry County
    • Since Gideon is near Marion County and also Florence 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 Florence 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 Gideon

Communities Also Named Gideon ...

We found four communities that are also named Gideon.

Within South Carolina, the name Gideon is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Douglas 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 Kansas community of Gideon [Douglas County].
    • Missouri
      • New Madrid County
      • This Gideon is located in New Madrid County and lies 626 miles [1,007.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Gideon that is located in Horry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Madrid County community of Gideon.
    • Oklahoma
      • Cherokee County
      • This Gideon is located in Cherokee County and lies 904 miles [1,454.8 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Gideon that is located in Horry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Gideon.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Somerset County
      • This Gideon is located in Somerset County and lies 422 miles [679.1 km]<2> to the north of the Gideon that is located in Horry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Somerset County community of Gideon.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gideon ...

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.

  • Cool Spring
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cool Spring is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cool Spring
  • Dog Bluff
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Dog Bluff is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dog Bluff
  • Horry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Horry is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horry
  • Hughes Landing
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hughes Landing is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes Landing
  • Jones Crossroads
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jones Crossroads is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Crossroads
  • Jonestown
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Jonestown is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jonestown
  • Jordanville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Jordanville is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jordanville
  • Knotty Branch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Knotty Branch is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knotty Branch
  • Pages ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Pages is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pages
  • Peters Ferry Landing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Peters Ferry Landing is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peters Ferry Landing
  • Pleasant Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Hill is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
  • Red Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Hill is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill

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

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

  • Conway, which is the Seat of Horry County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Gideon to Conway, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 103 miles [165.8 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 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 362 miles [582.6 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,205 miles [9,986 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,894 miles [11,094.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,778 miles [7,689.4 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 Gideon 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- Gideon) 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 Gideon 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 Gideon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9521, Longitude: -79.2223       In this case, the coordinates for Gideon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.302 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.313 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.271 degrees.