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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Melwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Melwood 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 Melwood:
    • 33.950984, -81.177598
    • 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 Melwood
  • 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 Lexington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lexington County
    • Since Melwood is near Lancaster County and also Richland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richland 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 Melwood

Communities Also Named Melwood ...

We found three communities that are also named Melwood.

Within South Carolina, the name Melwood is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Edgar County
      • This Melwood is located in Edgar County and lies 545 miles [877.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Melwood that is located in Lexington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Edgar County community of Melwood.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Melwood.
    • Tennessee
      • Chester 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 Tennessee community of Melwood [Chester County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Melwood ...

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.

  • Arthur
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Arthur is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthur
  • Cedarwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cedarwood is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarwood
  • Coventry Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Coventry Woods is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coventry Woods
  • Crystal View
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Crystal View is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal View
  • Greyland Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Greyland Forest is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greyland Forest
  • Harrisburg
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Harrisburg is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Heritage Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Heritage Hills is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Hills
  • Hillside
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Hillside is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
  • Honeywood
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Honeywood is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Honeywood
  • Indian Pines
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Indian Pines is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Pines
  • Kings Grant
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Kings Grant is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Grant
  • Land of the Lakes
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Land of the Lakes is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Land of the Lakes
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Oak Grove
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Oak Grove is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Red Bank
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Red Bank is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Bank
    • Regency Square
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Regency Square is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Square
    • Rose Gardens
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Rose Gardens is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Gardens
    • Three Fountains
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Three Fountains is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Fountains
    • Walnut Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Walnut Creek is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Creek

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

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

  • Lexington, which is the Seat of Lexington County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies just to the east northeast (ENE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 411 miles [661.4 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Melwood to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 24 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,291 miles [10,124.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,986 miles [11,242.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,867 miles [7,832.7 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Melwood) 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 Melwood 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 Melwood 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 Melwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9510, Longitude: -81.1776       In this case, the coordinates for Melwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.403 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.577 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.00 degrees.