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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smallwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smallwood 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 Smallwood:
    • 34.493184, -81.867045
    • 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 Smallwood
  • 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 Laurens County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Laurens County
    • Since Smallwood is near Union County and also Spartanburg County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Spartanburg 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 Smallwood

Communities Also Named Smallwood ...

We found six communities that are also named Smallwood.

There is one other community in South Carolina that is also named Smallwood.

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

  • Communities Located In South Carolina ...
    • Fairfield County
      • This Smallwood is located in Fairfield County and lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Smallwood that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfield County community of Smallwood.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Comanche 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 Kansas community of Smallwood [Comanche County].
    • Maryland
      • Carroll County
      • This Smallwood is located in Carroll County and lies 439 miles [706.5 km]<1> to the northeast of the Smallwood that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Smallwood.
    • New York
      • Sullivan County
      • This Smallwood is located in Sullivan County and lies 625 miles [1,005.8 km]<1> to the northeast of the Smallwood that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Smallwood.
    • North Carolina
      • Beaufort County
      • This Smallwood is located in Beaufort County and lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Smallwood that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Beaufort County community of Smallwood.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Washington County
      • This Smallwood is located in Washington County and lies 399 miles [642.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Smallwood that is located in Laurens County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Smallwood.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smallwood ...

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.

  • Brickhouse Crossroads
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Cross Anchor
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Cross Keys
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Cross Keys is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cross Keys
  • Dover ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Dover is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
  • Joanna
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lisbon ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Lisbon is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
  • Long Branch
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Long Branch is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Lydia Mills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lydia Mills is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lydia Mills
  • Neighbors Crossroads
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Neighbors Crossroads is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Neighbors Crossroads
  • Stomp Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Stomp Springs is located in Laurens County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stomp Springs
  • Wildcat ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Wildcat is located in Union County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildcat

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

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

  • Laurens, which is the Seat of Laurens County, lies just to the West.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 58 miles [93.3 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could walk a straight line from Smallwood to Columbia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 404 miles [650.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, 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 6,297 miles [10,134 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,995 miles [11,257.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,875 miles [7,845.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Smallwood) 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 Smallwood 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 Smallwood 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 Smallwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.4932, Longitude: -81.8670       In this case, the coordinates for Smallwood have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.807 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.119 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.113 degrees.