Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Lead, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lead and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Lead
- 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 Lead:
- 44.350128, -103.765704
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Lead
- 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 Lawrence County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
- Since Lead is near Meade County and also Pennington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Meade County
- eBird sighting report for Pennington 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Lead ...
We found one communities that share the name Lead.
Within South Dakota, the name Lead is unique.
Beyond South Dakota, there is another community also named Lead in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Lead ...
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.
- Blacktail
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Carterville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carterville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carterville
- Carterville is located in Lawrence County
- Carthage ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Deadwood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
- Deadwood is located in Lawrence County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,294 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deadwood <3>
- Elizabethtown ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elizabethtown have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethtown
- Elizabethtown is located in Lawrence County
- Gayville
(Less than 2 miles to the north) - Ragged Top ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ragged Top have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ragged Top
- Ragged Top is located in Lawrence County
- Estimated population in 2014: 73 people
- Terry
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest) - Trojan
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trojan
- Trojan is located in Lawrence County
- Estimated population in 2014: 627 people
- Virginia ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
How Far From Lead 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 city such as Lead to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Lead and extending to:
- Deadwood, which is the Seat of Lawrence County, lies just to the Northeast.
- Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 169 miles [272 km]<4> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Lead to Pierre, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,423 miles [2,290.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 81 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,573 miles [10,578.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,339 miles [11,811 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,289 miles [8,511.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Lead. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Lawrence County: www.lawrence.sd.us/
The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Lead 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. |
| <2> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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- Lead) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lead. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3501, Longitude: -103.7657 In this case, the coordinates for Lead have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Lead to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.944 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.857 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.655 degrees. |