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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Vanderbilt Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Vanderbilt Hills 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 Vanderbilt Hills:
    • 34.943455, -81.969549
    • 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 Vanderbilt Hills
  • 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 Vanderbilt Hills is near Union County and also Cherokee 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 Cherokee 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 Vanderbilt Hills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Vanderbilt Hills ...

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
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Camelot is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot
  • Cold Spring
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cold Spring is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Spring
  • Fairforest
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Forest Park
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Forest Park is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
  • Fox Hunt
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Fox Hunt is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fox Hunt
  • Hartwell Courts
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Hartwell Courts is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hartwell Courts
  • Hidden Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Hidden Hills is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hidden Hills
  • Hilltop
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Hilltop is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hub City Courts
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Hub City Courts is located in Spartanburg County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hub City Courts
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Lone Oak
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Lone Oak is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
    • Park Hills
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Park Hills is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hills
    • Pebblebrook
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Pebblebrook is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pebblebrook
    • Pinnacle Heights
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Pinnacle Heights is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinnacle Heights
    • Raintree
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Raintree is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raintree
    • Summerhill
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Summerhill is located in Spartanburg County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerhill

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

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

  • Spartanburg, which is the Seat of Spartanburg County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Columbia, which is the State Capital of South Carolina, lies 84 miles [135.2 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Vanderbilt Hills 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 385 miles [619.6 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,281 miles [10,108.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,982 miles [11,236.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,861 miles [7,823 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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Vanderbilt Hills) 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 Vanderbilt Hills 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 Vanderbilt Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9435, Longitude: -81.9695       In this case, the coordinates for Vanderbilt Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.873 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.259 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.027 degrees.