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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Southport Estates, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Southport Estates 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 Southport Estates:
    • 34.903456, -81.966492
    • 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 Southport Estates
  • 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 Southport Estates is near Union County and also Greenville 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 Greenville 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 Southport Estates

Curious and Interesting Names Near Southport Estates ...

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.

  • Camelot
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Camelot is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Cold Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Cold Spring is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
  • Fairforest
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Forest Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Park is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Fox Hunt
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Fox Hunt is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hunt
  • Hartwell Courts
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hartwell Courts is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartwell Courts
  • Hidden Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Hidden Hills is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Hills
  • Hub City Courts
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Hub City Courts is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City Courts
  • Park Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Park Hills is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hills
  • Pebblebrook
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Pebblebrook is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebblebrook
  • Raintree
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Raintree is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
  • River Edge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • River Edge is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Edge
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Stone Station
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Stone Station is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Station
    • Summerhill
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Summerhill is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill
    • Twin Lakes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Twin Lakes is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
    • Woodwind
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Woodwind is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodwind

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Southport Estates and extending to:

  • Spartanburg, which is the Seat of Spartanburg County, lies just to the North Northeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Southport Estates 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 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 387 miles [622.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,283 miles [10,111.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,983 miles [11,238 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,862 miles [7,824.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Southport Estates) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Southport Estates 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 Southport Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9035, Longitude: -81.9665       In this case, the coordinates for Southport Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.871 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.251 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.037 degrees.