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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oatland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oatland 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 Oatland:
    • 33.495168, -79.347276
    • 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 Oatland
  • 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 Georgetown County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Georgetown County
    • Since Oatland is near Williamsburg County and also Horry County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Williamsburg County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Horry 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 Oatland

Communities Also Named Oatland ...

We found two communities that are also named Oatland.

Within South Carolina, the name Oatland is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Dakota
      • Cass 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 Dakota community of Oatland [Cass County].
    • Ontario
      • This Oatland lies 1,049 miles [1,688.2 km]<2> to the north of the Oatland that is located in Georgetown County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oatland ...

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.

  • Caring Cross Ferry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Caring Cross Ferry is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caring Cross Ferry
  • Cow Head Landing
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Cow Head Landing is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cow Head Landing
  • Georgetown
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Graves
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Graves is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graves
  • Lanes Creek
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Lanes Creek is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lanes Creek
  • Plantersville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Plantersville is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plantersville
  • Pleasant Grove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Grove is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
  • Post Foot Landing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Post Foot Landing is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Post Foot Landing
  • Pringle Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Pringle Heights is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pringle Heights
  • Red Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Red Hill is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Hill
  • Rose Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Rose Hill is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
  • Spring Gully
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Spring Gully is located in Georgetown County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Gully

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

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

  • Georgetown, which is the Seat of Georgetown County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 103 miles [165.8 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Oatland to Columbia, with an average speed<4>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 4 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 394 miles [634.1 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,231 miles [10,027.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,917 miles [11,131.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,803 miles [7,729.7 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 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 Oatland 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Oatland) 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>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 Oatland 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 Oatland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4952, Longitude: -79.3473       In this case, the coordinates for Oatland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.371 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.326 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.453 degrees.