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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mary, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mary 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 Mary:
    • 33.873502, -79.105039
    • 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 Mary
  • 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 Mary is near Marion County and also Georgetown 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 Georgetown 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 Mary

Communities Also Named Mary ...

We found three communities that are also named Mary.

Within South Carolina, the name Mary is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Tallapoosa County
      • This Mary is located in Tallapoosa County and lies 387 miles [622.8 km]<1> to the west of the Mary that is located in Horry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tallapoosa County community of Mary.
    • Kentucky
      • Wolfe County
      • This Mary is located in Wolfe County and lies 360 miles [579.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Mary that is located in Horry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wolfe County community of Mary.
    • Louisiana
      • Plaquemines Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Mary [Plaquemines Parish].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mary ...

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.

  • Allen
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Allen is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Allen
  • Booth
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Booth is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Booth
  • Cedar Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedar Grove is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
  • Homewood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Homewood is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homewood
  • Horry
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Horry is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horry
  • Joy ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Joy is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joy
  • Juniper Bay
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Juniper Bay is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniper Bay
  • Knotty Branch
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Knotty Branch is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knotty Branch
  • Longwood
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Longwood is located in Horry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longwood
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Maple Crossroads
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Maple Crossroads is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Crossroads
    • Ned Swamp
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Ned Swamp is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ned Swamp
    • Park Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Park Hill is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hill
    • Polecat Bay ‑ Historic
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Polecat Bay is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Polecat Bay
    • Poplar Forks
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Poplar Forks is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poplar Forks
    • Sand Ridge
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Sand Ridge is located in Horry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Ridge

How Far From Mary to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mary to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Conway, which is the Seat of Horry County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 110 miles [177 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Mary to Columbia, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 365 miles [587.4 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 6,204 miles [9,984.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,891 miles [11,090 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,776 miles [7,686.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- Mary) 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 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 Mary 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 Mary 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 Mary. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8735, Longitude: -79.1050       In this case, the coordinates for Mary have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.237 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.227 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.251 degrees.