RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Pierce County >> South Prairie >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in South Prairie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Prairie 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 Prairie:
    • 47.139252, -122.097875
    • 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 Prairie
  • 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 Pierce County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pierce County
    • Since South Prairie is near King County and also Thurston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for King County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Thurston 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 Prairie

Communities Also Named South Prairie ...

We found two communities that are also named South Prairie.

Within Washington, the name South Prairie is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Dakota
      • Ward County
      • This South Prairie is located in Ward County and lies 967 miles [1,556.2 km]<1> to the east of the South Prairie that is located in Pierce County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ward County community of South Prairie.
    • Texas
      • Stephens 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 Texas community of South Prairie [Stephens County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Prairie ...

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.

  • Birch
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Birch is located in King County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birch
  • Cedarview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedarview is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarview
  • Croker
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Croker is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Croker
  • Electron
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Electron is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Electron
  • Firwood ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Graham
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Green River
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Meeker
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Meeker is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meeker
  • Prairie Ridge
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Prairie Ridge is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Ridge
  • Stuck
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Stuck is located in King County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stuck
  • Tanwax
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Tanwax is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tanwax
  • Thrift
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Thrift is located in Pierce County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thrift

How Far From South Prairie 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 town such as South Prairie to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Tacoma, which is the Seat of Pierce County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from South Prairie to Tacoma, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 38 miles [61.2 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,310 miles [3,717.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,800 miles [10,943.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,562 miles [12,169.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,681 miles [9,142.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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- South Prairie) 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 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 South Prairie 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 Prairie 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 Prairie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.1393, Longitude: -122.0979    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.657 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.154 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.639 degrees.