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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in White Pond, we use the following websites to find information relevant to White Pond 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 White Pond:
    • 33.426535, -81.473996
    • 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 White Pond
  • 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 White Pond 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 White Pond

Communities Also Named White Pond ...

We found four communities that are also named White Pond.

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

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

  • Communities Located In South Carolina ...
    • Horry County
      • This White Pond is located in Horry County and lies 153 miles [246.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the White Pond that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Horry County community of White Pond.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Barbour 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 Alabama community of White Pond [Barbour County].
    • North Carolina
      • Robeson County
      • This White Pond is located in Robeson County and lies 148 miles [238.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the White Pond that is located in Aiken County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Robeson County community of White Pond.
    • Ohio
      • Summit 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 Ohio community of White Pond [Summit County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near White Pond ...

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
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Dry Branch is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Branch
  • Greenland ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Greenland is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
  • Happy Bottom
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Happy Bottom is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Happy Bottom
  • Healing Springs
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Healing Springs is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Healing Springs
  • Hells Half Acre
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Hells Half Acre is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hells Half Acre
  • Hunters Glen
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Hunters Glen is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Glen
  • Long Branch
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Long Branch is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Branch
  • Quail Hollow
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • 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 east)
    • Rosemary is located in Barnwell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosemary
  • Spring Branch ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Spring Branch is located in Aiken County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Branch

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

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

  • Aiken, which is the Seat of Aiken County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from White Pond to Aiken, with an average speed<3> 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 46 miles [74 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 451 miles [725.8 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,328 miles [10,183.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,020 miles [11,297.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,903 miles [7,890.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- White Pond) 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 White Pond 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 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 White Pond 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 White Pond. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.4265, Longitude: -81.4740       In this case, the coordinates for White Pond have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.562 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.685 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.255 degrees.