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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Olympia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Olympia 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 Olympia:
    • 33.976544, -81.029814
    • 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 Olympia
  • 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 Richland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richland County
    • Since Olympia is near Lexington County and also Lancaster County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lexington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lancaster 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 Olympia

Communities Also Named Olympia ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Olympia.

Within South Carolina, the name Olympia is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Santa Cruz County
      • This Olympia is located in Santa Cruz County and lies 2,297 miles [3,696.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Olympia that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Cruz County community of Olympia.
    • Florida
      • Olympia #
      • This community is historichttp://www.waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&lat=33.976544&lon=-81.029814&t=6 and we have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for Olympia.
    • Georgia
      • Lowndes County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Olympia [Lowndes County].
    • Kansas
      • Pratt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Olympia [Pratt County].
    • Kentucky
      • Bath County
      • This Olympia is located in Bath County and lies 321 miles [516.6 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Olympia that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bath County community of Olympia.
    • Missouri
      • Cedar County
      • This Olympia is located in Cedar County and lies 771 miles [1,240.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Olympia that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cedar County community of Olympia.
    • North Carolina
      • Pamlico County
      • This Olympia is located in Pamlico County and lies 244 miles [392.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Olympia that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pamlico County community of Olympia.
    • Ohio
      • Fayette County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Olympia [Fayette County].
    • Virginia
      • Smyth County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Olympia [Smyth County].
    • Washington
      • King County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Olympia [King County].
      • Thurston County
      • This Olympia is located in Thurston County and lies 2,342 miles [3,769.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Olympia that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Thurston County community of Olympia.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Olympia ...

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.

  • Arthurtown
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Arthurtown is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arthurtown
  • Booker Washington Heights
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Brickyard Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Brickyard Village is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brickyard Village
  • Butchertown ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Butchertown is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butchertown
  • Childs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Childs is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Childs
  • Dutch Square
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Dutch Square is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutch Square
  • Edenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Edenwood is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edenwood
  • Elm Abode
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Elm Abode is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Abode
  • Foxhall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Foxhall is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhall
  • Gordon Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Gordon Springs is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon Springs
  • Happytown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Happytown is located in Lexington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happytown
  • Heathwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Heathwood is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heathwood
  • Continue List   (5 more) ...
    • Heritage Woods
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Heritage Woods is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Woods
    • Meadowfield
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Meadowfield is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowfield
    • Riverbanks
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Riverbanks is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbanks
    • Rosewood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Rosewood is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosewood
    • Starlite
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Starlite is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starlite

How Far From Olympia to ...

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

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

  • Columbia, which is the Seat of Richland County, lies just to the North.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies just to the north (N).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Olympia to White House, with an average speed<4>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 23 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,284 miles [10,113.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,978 miles [11,230 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,859 miles [7,819.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Olympia) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Olympia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Olympia 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.
<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 Olympia 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 Olympia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.9765, Longitude: -81.0298       In this case, the coordinates for Olympia have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.32 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.485 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.937 degrees.