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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in San Mateo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to San Mateo 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 San Mateo:
    • 34.522049, -82.722080
    • 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 San Mateo
  • 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 Anderson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Anderson County
    • Since San Mateo is near Hart County and also Oconee County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hart County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Oconee 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 San Mateo

Communities Also Named San Mateo ...

We found five communities that are also named San Mateo.

Within South Carolina, the name San Mateo is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • San Mateo County
      • This San Mateo is located in San Mateo County and lies 2,204 miles [3,547 km]<1> to the west northwest of the San Mateo that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Mateo County community of San Mateo.
    • Florida
      • Duval County
      • This San Mateo is located in Duval County and lies 288 miles [463.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the San Mateo that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Duval County community of San Mateo.
      • Putnam County
      • This San Mateo is located in Putnam County and lies 345 miles [555.2 km] to the south of the San Mateo that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Putnam County community of San Mateo.
    • New Mexico
      • Cibola County
      • This San Mateo is located in Cibola County and lies 1,408 miles [2,266 km]<1> to the west of the San Mateo that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cibola County community of San Mateo.
      • Valencia 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 New Mexico community of San Mateo [Valencia County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near San Mateo ...

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.

  • Centerville
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Centerville is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
  • Clearview
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Clearview is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Cloverdale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Cloverdale is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Evergreen Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Evergreen Hills is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Hills
  • Forest Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Forest Park is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Green Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Green Forest is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Forest
  • Heritage Trace
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Heritage Trace is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heritage Trace
  • Hidden Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Hidden Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Lake
  • Hill and Dale
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hill and Dale is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill and Dale
  • Hunters Trail
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hunters Trail is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Trail
  • Indian Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Indian Hills is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Indian Trail
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Indian Trail is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Trail
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Masons Cross Road
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Masons Cross Road is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Cross Road
    • Quail Creek
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Quail Creek is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Creek
    • Regency Park
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Regency Park is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Park
    • Regency Woods
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Regency Woods is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Woods
    • Spring Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Park is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Park
    • Stonehaven
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • Stonehaven is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonehaven
    • Twin Lakes
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Twin Lakes is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes

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

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

  • Anderson, which is the Seat of Anderson County, lies just to the East Southeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 102 miles [164.2 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from San Mateo to Columbia, with an average speed<3>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 three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 436 miles [701.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 17 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,332 miles [10,190.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,033 miles [11,318.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,912 miles [7,905.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 from Point A (ie- San Mateo) 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 San Mateo 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 San Mateo 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 San Mateo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.5220, Longitude: -82.7221       In this case, the coordinates for San Mateo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.304 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.694 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.438 degrees.