RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Leon County >> South Salem >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Salem, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Salem 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 South Salem:
    • 31.267958, -96.071628
    • 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 South Salem
  • 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 Leon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Leon County
    • Since South Salem is near Madison County and also Limestone County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Limestone 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 South Salem

Communities Also Named South Salem ...

We found five communities that are also named South Salem.

Within Texas, the name South Salem is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Randolph County
      • This South Salem is located in Randolph County and lies 877 miles [1,411.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the South Salem that is located in Leon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of South Salem.
    • Massachusetts
      • Essex County
      • This South Salem is located in Essex County and lies 1,583 miles [2,547.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the South Salem that is located in Leon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Essex County community of South Salem.
    • New York
      • Westchester County
      • This South Salem is located in Westchester County and lies 1,425 miles [2,293.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the South Salem that is located in Leon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Westchester County community of South Salem.
    • Ohio
      • Ross County
      • This South Salem is located in Ross County and lies 908 miles [1,461.3 km]<1> to the northeast of the South Salem that is located in Leon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ross County community of South Salem.
    • Virginia
      • Salem City
      • 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 Virginia community of South Salem [Salem City].

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Salem ...

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.

  • Buffalo
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Centerville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Friendship
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Friendship is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendship
  • Guys Store
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Guys Store is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guys Store
  • Long Hollow
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Long Hollow is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Hollow
  • Margie
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Margie is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margie
  • Pleasant Ridge
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Pleasant Ridge is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Ridge
  • Pleasant Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Pleasant Springs is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Springs
  • Robbins
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Robbins is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robbins
  • Spillers Store
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Spillers Store is located in Leon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spillers Store

How Far From South Salem to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as South Salem to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Centerville, which is the Seat of Leon County, lies just to the East.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 120 miles [193.1 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from South Salem to Austin, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,194 miles [1,921.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 47 days and walking would take 68 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,036 miles [11,323.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,764 miles [12,494.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,640 miles [9,076.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- South Salem) 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 South Salem 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 South Salem 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 South Salem. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.2680, Longitude: -96.0716       In this case, the coordinates for South Salem have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.261 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.496 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.504 degrees.