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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in State Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to State Park 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 State Park:
    • 34.090708, -80.966200
    • 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 State Park
  • 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 Richland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richland County
    • Since State Park is near Lexington County and also Kershaw County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lexington County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kershaw 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 State Park

Curious and Interesting Names Near State Park ...

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.

  • Brickyard Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Brickyard Village is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brickyard Village
  • Dentsville
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
  • Edinburgh
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Edinburgh is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edinburgh
  • Evergreen Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Evergreen Park is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Park
  • Forest Trace
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forest Trace is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Trace
  • Foxhall
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Foxhall is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhall
  • Green Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Green Springs is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Springs
  • Huntcliff
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Huntcliff is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntcliff
  • Jiggs
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Jiggs is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jiggs
  • Lakeview
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Lakeview is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Meadow Lake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Meadow Lake is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake
  • Ravenwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Ravenwood is located in Richland County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenwood
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Rockbridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Rockbridge is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockbridge
    • Rockgate
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Rockgate is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockgate
    • Sandwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Sandwood is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandwood
    • Spring Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Spring Valley is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Valley
    • Springwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Springwood is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springwood
    • Tanglewood
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Tanglewood is located in Richland County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanglewood

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

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

  • Columbia, which is the Seat of Richland County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies just to the south southwest (SSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 397 miles [638.9 km]<2> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from State Park to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 23 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,276 miles [10,100.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,970 miles [11,217.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,852 miles [7,808.5 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 '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- State Park) 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 State Park 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 State Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.0907, Longitude: -80.9662       In this case, the coordinates for State Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.285 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.461 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.881 degrees.