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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Grays Landing, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grays Landing 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 Grays Landing:
    • 33.272367, -81.834003
    • 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 Grays Landing
  • 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 Grays Landing is near Burke County and also Richmond County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richmond 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 Grays Landing

Communities Also Named Grays Landing ...

We found four communities that are also named Grays Landing.

Within South Carolina, the name Grays Landing is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Toombs County
      • This Grays Landing is located in Toombs County and lies 96 miles [154.5 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Grays Landing that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Toombs County community of Grays Landing.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Fayette County
      • This Grays Landing is located in Fayette County and lies 465 miles [748.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Grays Landing that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Grays Landing.
      • Greene County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Grays Landing [Greene County].
    • Washington
      • Spokane County
      • This Grays Landing is located in Spokane County and lies 2,095 miles [3,371.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Grays Landing that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spokane County community of Grays Landing.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Grays Landing ...

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.

  • Bush ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Bush is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bush
  • Dog Ferry
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Dog Ferry is located in Burke County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dog Ferry
  • Hollow Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Hollow Creek is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollow Creek
  • Mechanic Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Mechanic Hill is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanic Hill
  • Nixon ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Nixon is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
  • Shell Bluff
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Shell Bluff is located in Burke County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Bluff
  • Shell Bluff Landing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Shell Bluff Landing is located in Burke County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Bluff Landing
  • Silver Bluff Ferry
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Silver Bluff Ferry is located in Richmond County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Bluff Ferry
  • Spiderweb
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Spiderweb is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spiderweb
  • Twiggs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Twiggs is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twiggs

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

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

  • Aiken, which is the Seat of Aiken County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Grays Landing to Aiken, 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 68 miles [109.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 471 miles [758 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,351 miles [10,220.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,044 miles [11,336.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,926 miles [7,927.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Grays Landing) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Grays Landing 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.
<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 Grays Landing 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 Grays Landing. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.2724, Longitude: -81.8340       In this case, the coordinates for Grays Landing have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.762 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.893 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.431 degrees.