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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in The Shoals, we use the following websites to find information relevant to The Shoals 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 The Shoals:
    • 34.527882, -82.797639
    • 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 The Shoals
  • 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 The Shoals 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 The Shoals

Communities Also Named The Shoals ...

We found seven communities that are also named The Shoals.

Within South Carolina, the name The Shoals is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Delaware
      • Sussex County
      • This The Shoals is located in Sussex County and lies 508 miles [817.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sussex County community of The Shoals.
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This The Shoals is located in Hillsborough County and lies 461 miles [741.9 km]<1> to the south of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of The Shoals.
    • Georgia
      • Warren 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 Georgia community of The Shoals [Warren County].
    • Indiana
      • Martin County
      • This The Shoals is located in Martin County and lies 361 miles [581 km]<1> to the northwest of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Martin County community of The Shoals.
    • North Carolina
      • Surry County
      • This The Shoals is located in Surry County and lies 176 miles [283.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Surry County community of The Shoals.
    • Oklahoma
      • Choctaw County
      • This The Shoals is located in Choctaw County and lies 720 miles [1,158.7 km]<1> to the west of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Choctaw County community of The Shoals.
    • West Virginia
      • Wayne County
      • This The Shoals is located in Wayne County and lies 262 miles [421.6 km]<1> to the north of the The Shoals that is located in Anderson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of The Shoals.

Curious and Interesting Names Near The Shoals ...

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.

  • Clearview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Clearview is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearview
  • Double Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Double Springs is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Double Springs
  • Green Forest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Green Forest is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Forest
  • Hidden Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hidden Lake is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Lake
  • Hunters Trail
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunters Trail is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Trail
  • Indian Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Indian Hills is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Hills
  • Lakefront
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Lakefront is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakefront
  • Leisure Village
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Leisure Village is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leisure Village
  • Masons Cross Road
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Masons Cross Road is located in Anderson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Masons Cross Road
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • New Light
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • New Light is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Light
    • Quail Creek
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Quail Creek is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Creek
    • Regency Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Regency Park is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Park
    • Regency Woods
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Regency Woods is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Regency Woods
    • Shadow Wood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Shadow Wood is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shadow Wood
    • Stonehaven
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Stonehaven is located in Anderson County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonehaven

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in The Shoals 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 106 miles [170.6 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from The Shoals 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 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 438 miles [704.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 25 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,335 miles [10,195.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,037 miles [11,325 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,915 miles [7,909.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- The Shoals) 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 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 The Shoals 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 The Shoals 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 The Shoals. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.5279, Longitude: -82.7976       In this case, the coordinates for The Shoals have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.348 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.745 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.466 degrees.