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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McDonalds, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McDonalds 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 McDonalds:
    • 34.621827, -79.543663
    • 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 McDonalds
  • 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 Marlboro County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marlboro County
    • Since McDonalds is near Scotland County and also Dillon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scotland County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dillon 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 McDonalds

Communities Also Named McDonalds ...

We found four communities that are also named McDonalds.

Within South Carolina, the name McDonalds is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Limestone 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 Alabama community of McDonalds [Limestone County].
    • Georgia
      • Coffee 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 Georgia community of McDonalds [Coffee County].
    • Idaho
      • Shoshone County
      • This McDonalds is located in Shoshone County and lies 2,025 miles [3,258.9 km]<2> to the northwest of the McDonalds that is located in Marlboro County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shoshone County community of McDonalds.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of McDonalds.

Curious and Interesting Names Near McDonalds ...

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.

  • Beauty Spot ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Beauty Spot is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauty Spot
  • Burnt Factory ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Burnt Factory is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Factory
  • Crossway
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Crossway is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crossway
  • Five Forks
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Five Forks is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Forks
  • Grace Heights
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Grace Heights is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace Heights
  • Hasty
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Hasty is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hasty
  • Hebron
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Hebron is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hebron
  • Johns
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Johns is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johns
  • Lester
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Lester is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lester
  • Masons Crossroads
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Masons Crossroads is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Crossroads
  • Red Bluff
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Red Bluff is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bluff
  • Sunnybrook Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Sunnybrook Heights is located in Marlboro County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnybrook Heights
  • Whispering Pines
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Whispering Pines is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pines
  • Woodrun
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Woodrun is located in Scotland County (NC)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodrun

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

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

  • Bennettsville, which is the Seat of Marlboro County, lies just to the West.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from McDonalds to Columbia, with an average speed<3>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 326 miles [524.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,190 miles [9,961.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,883 miles [11,077.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,765 miles [7,668.5 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 McDonalds 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McDonalds) 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 McDonalds 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 McDonalds. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.6218, Longitude: -79.5437       In this case, the coordinates for McDonalds have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.48 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.615 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.187 degrees.