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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Iris, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iris 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 Iris:
    • 34.274280, -82.402069
    • 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 Iris
  • 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 Abbeville County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Abbeville County
    • Since Iris is near Greenwood County and also Anderson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greenwood County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anderson 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 Iris

Communities Also Named Iris ...

We found eight communities that are also named Iris.

Within South Carolina, the name Iris is unique.

Beyond South Carolina, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Imperial County
      • This Iris is located in Imperial County and lies 1,888 miles [3,038.4 km]<1> to the west of the Iris that is located in Abbeville County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Imperial County community of Iris.
    • Colorado
      • Saguache County
      • This Iris is located in Saguache County and lies 1,383 miles [2,225.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Iris that is located in Abbeville County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saguache County community of Iris.
    • Indiana
      • Harrison 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 Indiana community of Iris [Harrison County].
    • Michigan
      • Marquette 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 Michigan community of Iris [Marquette County].
    • Mississippi
      • Coahoma County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Iris [Coahoma County].
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This Iris is located in Missoula County and lies 1,834 miles [2,951.5 km]<1> to the northwest of the Iris that is located in Abbeville County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of Iris.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • 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 Prince Edward Island community of Iris.
    • West Virginia
      • Ritchie County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Iris [Ritchie County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Iris ...

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.

  • Brick House
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Brick House is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brick House
  • Buck Stand
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Buck Stand is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Stand
  • Cold Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Cold Spring is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
  • Dover ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Dover is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
  • Due West
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Fairs Crossroads
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Fairs Crossroads is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairs Crossroads
  • Foxville Crossroads
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Foxville Crossroads is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxville Crossroads
  • Level Land
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Level Land is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Level Land
  • Long Cane ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Cane is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Cane
  • Murray ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Murray is located in Abbeville County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Murray
  • Shoals Junction
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Shoals Junction is located in Greenwood County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shoals Junction

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

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

  • Abbeville, which is the Seat of Abbeville County, lies just to the South.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 80 miles [128.7 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Iris to Columbia, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 436 miles [701.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,330 miles [10,187.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,029 miles [11,312.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,908 miles [7,898.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Iris) 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 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 Iris 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>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 Iris, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Iris 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 Iris. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2743, Longitude: -82.4021       In this case, the coordinates for Iris have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.112 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.438 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.38 degrees.