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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in River Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Forest 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 River Forest:
    • 35.022341, -82.015940
    • 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 River Forest
  • 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 Spartanburg County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spartanburg County
    • Since River Forest is near Polk County and also Cherokee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cherokee 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 River Forest

Communities Also Named River Forest ...

We found six communities that are also named River Forest.

Within South Carolina, the name River Forest is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Lake County
      • This River Forest is located in Lake County and lies 416 miles [669.5 km]<1> to the south of the River Forest that is located in Spartanburg County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of River Forest.
    • Georgia
      • Fayette County
      • This River Forest is located in Fayette County and lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the River Forest that is located in Spartanburg County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of River Forest.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This River Forest is located in Cook County and lies 568 miles [914.1 km]<1> to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Spartanburg County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of River Forest.
      • Winnebago County
      • This River Forest is located in Winnebago County and lies 627 miles [1,009.1 km] to the northwest of the River Forest that is located in Spartanburg County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winnebago County community of River Forest.
    • Indiana
      • Madison County
      • This River Forest is located in Madison County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the River Forest that is located in Spartanburg County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of River Forest.
    • Maryland
      • Prince George's 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 Maryland community of River Forest [Prince George's County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Forest ...

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.

  • Boiling Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Chestnut Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Chestnut Lake is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Lake
  • Ferndale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Ferndale is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
  • Gary Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Gary Creek is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gary Creek
  • Hickory Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Lone Oak
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Lone Oak is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
  • Mountainbrook
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Mountainbrook is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountainbrook
  • Peachtree Gardens
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Peachtree Gardens is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peachtree Gardens
  • Pinnacle Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Pinnacle Heights is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnacle Heights
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Quail Ridge
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Quail Ridge is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Ridge
    • Rainbow Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Rainbow Park is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Park
    • Stone Creek
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Stone Creek is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Creek
    • Twin Brooks
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Twin Brooks is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Brooks
    • Twin Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Twin Creek is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Creek
    • Willow Wood
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Willow Wood is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willow Wood

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

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

  • Spartanburg, which is the Seat of Spartanburg County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 89 miles [143.2 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from River Forest 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 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 383 miles [616.4 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,279 miles [10,105.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,981 miles [11,234.8 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- River Forest) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 River Forest 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'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 River Forest 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 River Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.0223, Longitude: -82.0159       In this case, the coordinates for River Forest have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.901 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.303 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.023 degrees.