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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Spring Branch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spring Branch 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 Spring Branch:
    • 33.455702, -81.441773
    • 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 Spring Branch
  • 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 Aiken County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Aiken County
    • Since Spring Branch is near Barnwell County and also Orangeburg County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barnwell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Orangeburg 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 Spring Branch

Communities Also Named Spring Branch ...

We found eight communities that are also named Spring Branch.

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

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

  • Communities Located In South Carolina ...
    • Marion County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Marion County and lies 129 miles [207.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Spring Branch.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Appling County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Appling County and lies 123 miles [197.9 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Spring Branch that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Appling County community of Spring Branch.
      • Effingham County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Effingham County and lies 76 miles [122.3 km] to the south of the Spring Branch that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Effingham County community of Spring Branch.
    • Kansas
      • Butler 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 Spring Branch [Butler County].
    • Maryland
      • Caroline County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Caroline County and lies 491 miles [790.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Spring Branch that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caroline County community of Spring Branch.
    • Missouri
      • Jackson 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 Missouri community of Spring Branch [Jackson County].
    • Texas
      • Comal County
      • This Spring Branch is located in Comal County and lies 1,026 miles [1,651.2 km]<1> to the west of the Spring Branch that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Comal County community of Spring Branch.
      • Smith County
      • Although located in Smith County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Smith County community of Spring Branch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Spring Branch ...

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.

  • Dry Branch
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Dry Branch is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Branch
  • Greenland ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenland is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
  • Happy Bottom
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Happy Bottom is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Bottom
  • Healing Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Healing Springs is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Healing Springs
  • Hells Half Acre
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Hells Half Acre is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hells Half Acre
  • Hidden Haven
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Hidden Haven is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Haven
  • Hunters Glen
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Hunters Glen is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Glen
  • Lees
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Lees is located in Bamberg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees
  • Long Branch
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Long Branch is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • New Holland
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • New Holland is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Holland
  • Quail Hollow
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Quail Hollow is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hollow
  • Roseland
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Roseland is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseland
  • Rosemary ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Rosemary is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemary

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Spring Branch once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Spring Branch and extending to:

  • Aiken, which is the Seat of Aiken County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spring Branch to Aiken, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 44 miles [70.8 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 448 miles [721 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,325 miles [10,179.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,018 miles [11,294.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,900 miles [7,885.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Spring Branch) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Spring Branch 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Spring Branch, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Spring Branch 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 Spring Branch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4557, Longitude: -81.4418       In this case, the coordinates for Spring Branch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.544 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.668 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.235 degrees.