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 Lafayette Village:
34.298762, -80.607300
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.
We found one communities that share the name Lafayette Village.
Within South Carolina, the name Lafayette Village is unique.
Beyond South Carolina, there is another community also named Lafayette Village in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
North Carolina
Cumberland 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 North Carolina community of Lafayette Village [Cumberland County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Lafayette Village ...
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 Springs (Less than 2 miles to the south)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cool Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Lafayette Village to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Lafayette Village and extending to:
Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 31 miles [49.9 km]<3> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Lafayette Village to Columbia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 374 miles [601.9 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,251 miles [10,060 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,945 miles [11,176.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,827 miles [7,768.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
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 Lafayette Village 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>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>
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- Lafayette Village) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lafayette Village. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2988, Longitude: -80.6073 In this case, the coordinates for Lafayette Village have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
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.
<5>
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 Lafayette Village to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.083 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.259 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.685 degrees.