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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Merchant, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merchant 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 Merchant:
    • 34.038193, -81.669273
    • 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 Merchant
  • 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 Saluda County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saluda County
    • Since Merchant is near Newberry County and also Lexington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Newberry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lexington 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 Merchant

Communities Also Named Merchant ...

We found two communities that are also named Merchant.

There is one other community in South Carolina that is also named Merchant.

Beyond South Carolina, there is another community also named Merchant in the United States.

  • Communities Located In South Carolina ...
    • Edgefield 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 South Carolina community of Merchant [Edgefield County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Virginia
      • Brunswick County
      • This Merchant is located in Brunswick County and lies 277 miles [445.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Merchant that is located in Saluda County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brunswick County community of Merchant.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Merchant ...

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.

  • Big Creek
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Big Creek is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Creek
  • Chapmans Crossroads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Chapmans Crossroads is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapmans Crossroads
  • Climax
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Climax is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Climax
  • Deadfall Crossroads
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Deadfall Crossroads is located in Newberry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadfall Crossroads
  • Denny
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Denny is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denny
  • Fruit Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Fruit Hill is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fruit Hill
  • Good Hope
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Good Hope is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Hope
  • Hibernia
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Hibernia is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibernia
  • Hickory Grove
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Grove is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Grove
  • Hollys Ferry
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Hollys Ferry is located in Newberry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hollys Ferry
  • Jones Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jones Crossroads is located in Saluda County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Crossroads
  • Jug Hole
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Jug Hole is located in Newberry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jug Hole
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Lake Village
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
      • Lake Village is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Village
    • Leesville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Limp
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Limp is located in Saluda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limp
    • Living Inn
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Living Inn is located in Newberry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Living Inn
    • Mount Willing
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Mount Willing is located in Saluda County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Willing
    • Red Star
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Red Star is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Star
    • Ridge Road Crossroads
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Ridge Road Crossroads is located in Lexington County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge Road Crossroads
    • Silverstreet
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Stoney Hill
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Stoney Hill is located in Newberry County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoney Hill

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Merchant once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Merchant and extending to:

  • Saluda, which is the Seat of Saluda County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 36 miles [57.9 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Merchant to Columbia, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 422 miles [679.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 24 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,309 miles [10,153.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,005 miles [11,273.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,886 miles [7,863.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 Merchant 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Merchant) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Merchant, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Merchant 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 Merchant. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0382, Longitude: -81.6693       In this case, the coordinates for Merchant have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.686 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.914 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.162 degrees.