Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sweetland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sweetland and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sweetland
- 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 Sweetland:
- 44.340541, -98.984821
- 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 Sweetland
- 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 Hand County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Hand County
- Since Sweetland is near Beadle County and also Hyde County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Beadle County
- eBird sighting report for Hyde 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 Sweetland ...
We found four communities that share the name Sweetland.
Within South Dakota, the name Sweetland is unique.
Beyond South Dakota, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Iowa
- Nova Scotia
- This Sweetland lies 1,687 miles [2,715 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Sweetland that is located in Hand County.
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sweetland ...
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.
- Crow Creek
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Crow Creek. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek
- Crow Creek is located in Buffalo County
- Crow Lake
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast) - Florence ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north) - Highmore
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highmore
- Highmore is located in Hyde County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 712 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Highmore <5>
- Lees Corner
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lees Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lees Corner
- Lees Corner is located in Buffalo County
- Polo
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
How Far From Sweetland 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 Sweetland 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<6> community of Sweetland once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sweetland and extending to:
- Miller, which is the Seat of Hand County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Sweetland to Miller, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 66 miles [106.2 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,189 miles [1,913.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 47 days and walking would take 68 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,435 miles [10,356.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,196 miles [11,580.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,123 miles [8,244.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of South Dakota: https://www.sd.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sweetland) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sweetland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3405, Longitude: -98.9848 In this case, the coordinates for Sweetland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Sweetland 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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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 Sweetland, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Sweetland to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.397 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.769 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.947 degrees. |