Home Care In Due West, SC

Science

Have you ever wondered why the direction of sunset changes throughout the year? We usually speak of the sun setting in the west, but technically it only sets due west at the spring and autumn equinoxes. For the rest of the year, the direction of sunset pivots about this westerly point, moving northerly in winter, and towards the south in summer. (In the northern hemisphere, the sunset tends more northerly in summer and more southerly in winter.)

Technically the sun only sets due west at the spring and autumn equinoxes.

If you’re an early riser, you’ll have noticed that the same symmetries apply to the easterly directions of sunrise. But it must have taken years for ancient astronomers to notice the particulars of all these patterns, let alone explain them astronomically.

One of the earliest records of such an observation may lie in the alignment of the Wurdi Youang stone circle in Victoria, on land traditionally owned by the Wathaurong people. The circle’s age is unknown, but it could be as old as 11,000 years, and researchers – including former Monash academic Duane Hamacher – think it's likely that the circle includes deliberate markers of the direction of sunset at the solstices and equinoxes.

We’ll never know just why, or even if, the builders of Wurdi Youang, Stonehenge, and other stone arrangements marked out the directions of sunrise or sunset at solstices and equinoxes. But historians do know that ancient Greek-speaking people deduced an extraordinary amount of astronomical information from the way the sunset and sunrise directions change throughout the year.

Most of the early Greek astronomical manuscripts have been lost, but their content was developed and codified by Claudius Ptolemy, about 150CE, in a book known as Almagest. It’s one of those ancient Greek classics that owe their survival to mediaeval Arabic scholars. Its first printed appearance, in Venice in 1515, was based on a mediaeval Latin translation of the Arabic adaptation of the original Greek – quite a multicultural achievement!

Among many other things Ptolemy was interested in was the fact that the symmetry in the arc of sunset directions is reflected in the symmetry between the sun’s midday altitude at the summer and winter solstices. The sunset direction reaches its northerly and southerly extremes at the solstices, while the noon altitudes are also at their extremes (highest and lowest) at the solstices. The midpoints in both cases occur at the equinoxes.

Thanks largely to Hipparchus of Nicaea – who worked about 150BCE, and to whom Ptolemy was indebted – astronomers had already figured out the geometrical configuration of the equinoxes. To do this, they used the concept of two imaginary planes cutting through a huge imaginary “celestial sphere” centred on the Earth. You can get the idea by visualising a third, more obvious plane – an extension of the one we appear to be standing on, bounded by the horizon with the sky sitting on top like a hemispherical dome.

The first plane is that of the “celestial equator”, which is parallel to the plane of the Earth’s equator. This is the plane in which the sun appears to make its daily journey about Earth, from sunrise to sunset and on through the night until sunrise again.

Today, following pioneers such as Nicolas Copernicus, we can imagine this more easily, because we know it’s not the sun that is moving but the Earth, which is rotating on its axis from west to east – that is, in the plane of the equator – producing the illusion that the sun rises and sets each day.

The second plane is that of the “ecliptic”, the sun’s apparent yearly path around the Earth. It must have seemed strange to the ancients that the sun had two different paths in its journey about the Earth. Still, these astronomers had figured out that these two paths lay in two different, intersecting planes. The equinoxes and the directions of sunset show why.

The equinoxes occur when the sun sets due west, and the days and nights are (virtually) of equal length everywhere on Earth. At the equator, however, the days and nights are always 12 hours long, so the spring and autumn equinoxes must happen when the sun is “on” the equator. So, in its yearly journey along the ecliptic, there are only two days when the sun crosses the equator. Which means that the ecliptic and equator must be in different planes, and must intersect at the equinoxes.

Ptolemy’s goal was to calculate the angle between these two imaginary planes, so that the celestial equator and ecliptic could be represented accurately – via an armillary sphere, for example. Like the Babylonians and others before them, the Greeks wanted to be able to keep track of the stars and planets, in order to study the ways of the deities who ruled them, and also to help with navigation.

Ptolemy reasoned as follows. At the equinoxes – when the direction of the sunset is halfway between the most northerly and southerly sunset points – the sun is at the point of intersection of the ecliptic and the celestial equator, as I mentioned. So the angle between these two intersecting planes must be half the difference between the summer and winter solstice solar altitudes, which exhibit the same symmetry.

He measured this angle to be about 23°40', or 23.67°, in the ballpark of a value found earlier by Aristarchus of Samos (whose maverick heliocentric theory of planetary motion had inspired Copernicus).

It was an incredible deduction, even if Ptolemy did believe that the planets and stars, including the sun, literally moved around the Earth. Today, of course, we believe it's the Earth that's moving in the plane of the ecliptic, not the sun. Astronomers also have a more up-to-date figure for the angle of tilt, 23.44°. (The change since Ptolemy’s time is largely because of the phenomenon of “precession”, a slow rotation of the Earth’s axis.)

What this means is that the Earth’s axis, and consequently its equatorial plane, must be tilted at an angle of 23.44° to the plane of the Earth’s yearly orbit along the ecliptic. If there were no tilt, the Earth would revolve around the sun with its north pole pointing upwards, and the ecliptic and equator would be in the same plane. The sun would always set due west, and there’d be no seasons.

Another interesting deduction made by earlier astronomers is that these changing directions depend on the observer’s latitude. As the intriguing Elizabethan mathematician Thomas Harriot showed, there’s a formula giving the angle by which the direction deviates from due west at any given time of year at any particular location on Earth.

The formula uses the sun’s “declination”, the angle it makes with the celestial equator. It’s a different measurement from the solar “altitudes” that Ptolemy used in his calculation, which are measured with respect to the horizon. At the equinoxes, the sun appears to be “on” the equator, so its declination – its angle above the equator – is zero. The maximum declinations, which occur at the solstices, are ±23.44° (that is, 23.44°N and 23.44°S with respect to the equator).

Harriot knew all about how to take these different measurements, and how they related to the geometry of the celestial sphere – in the 1580s and 1590s, he was Sir Walter Raleigh’s navigational advisor, when Raleigh was sending fleets of sailing ships to America. And, like his famous contemporary Galileo Galilei, Harriot was also a Copernican.

In the 1590s, Harriot took his own careful measurements to update Ptolemy’s. He also wrote down the formula for the sunset directions: the sine of the deviation of the direction from due west = the sine of the sun’s declination at noon on the given day/the cosine of the observer’s latitude.

So, at the equinoxes, when the declination is zero and therefore so is its sine, the deviation of the direction of sunset is also zero, and the sun sets due west as expected.

For an observer at the equator, the latitude is zero, and cos 0 =1. So the deviation from due west is just the declination of the sun on that day. For instance, the maximum deviation, at the solstices, is 23.44°.

For all other latitudes, the cosine of the latitude is less than one, and since it's on the denominator of the equation, the maximum change in sunset direction is greater than 23.44°. For Melbourne, it's 30.3° away from due west, towards the south in summer and towards the north in winter.

A couple of months after the winter solstice, in the weeks around the September equinox, it’s wonderful to watch the setting sun making its way back towards the west, hovering there at the equinox, and then inching its way towards the south as the days get longer and spring finally arrives. And it’s fascinating that so much astronomical information lies hidden in such seemingly simple natural phenomena.

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Are you craving donuts? Greenville, SC and the surrounding area are full of melt-in-your-mouth delicious donuts. We’ve researched the local donut shops, and of course, taste-tested. All that’s left is for you to hop on the donut trail. Choose one to try or visit them all. Let us know where you found your favorite Greenville donut.

National Donut Day is June 2nd, 2023. Jump down to National Donut Day Deals to see where you might be able to grab a free donut in Greenville!

You’d be lying through your teeth if you said you don’t crave a donut every once in a while. I mean, we’re all human and want sweets in our life, so grabbing a donut every now and then is perfectly fine.

Plan Your Donut Trail Route

We’ve compiled a list of places for you to check out and eat until your heart’s content! Based on your location and donut preferences, pop a few of these addresses into your map app and get going. Don’t forget to let us know about your favorite donut spots.

Don’t want to decide? Follow our 5 Stop Donut Trail in Greenville, SC. Just click the box in the upper left hand corner of the map below and follow the blue directions on the left.

This map was created by a user. Learn how to create your own.

Amazing Donuts: Greenville SC

1300 SC-14, Greer, SC

A mochinut is a variation of a traditional donut made the rice dough called mochi. The result is a light and chewy flavorful dough, that comes in a few daily flavors that vary. We really liked the strawberry shortcake, blackberry funnel cake, and rice krispy treat mochinuts.

3935 Pelham Road, Greenville

Duck Donuts in Greenville offers made-to-order, mouth-watering donuts. Each donut can be customized with a coating, topping, or drizzle. Or you can try one of their fan favorites such as Bacon in the Sun, Chocolate Caramel Crunch, or Strawberry Shortcake. You can even place an order online and pick it up if you’re in a hurry.

860 S Church Street, Greenville, SC 109 SE Main Street, Simpsonville, SC

Located on Church Street in Greenville and Main Street in Simpsonville, Farm Fresh Fast serves gluten-free, vegan and sugar-free donuts. They bake their donuts fresh in-house every morning. They’re dedicated to covering a wide variety of food allergies and diets.

Some of the flavors they offer are Cookies & Cream, Red Velvet Cake, S’mores, and Caramel Delight. They don’t offer every flavor every day, but you’re sure to find a unique flavor during your visit. Bottom line: these donuts are a healthier alternative to most other treats!

A pop-up doughnut shop that will likely have their permanent home at 1700 E. North Street, Greenville later in 2023, Scout’s Doughnuts is run by a husband-wife team and is a creative take on doughnuts and flavors.

Some of their doughnuts are so fluffy and are actually cronuts (a cross between a doughnut and a crossaint, which, really, you can never ever go wrong with).

Follow them on Instagram or sign up for their email newsletter to get the latest info on where you can get their doughnuts.

126 Augusta Street at Gather GVL

Prepared daily, HenDough offers a changing variety of donuts. They offer cake donuts, yeast donuts, filled donuts, vegan donuts, bear claws & fritters. Donuts are priced individually, but a purchase of a dozen donuts will receive a 10% discount.

Want to know more about the unique, family-friendly venue that HenDough occupies? Gather GVL is one of our favorite venues in downtown Greenville that we can’t get enough of!

8590 Pelham, Road, Greenville, SC

You can try flavors like red velvet with oreo at The Mad Batter Bakery and Cafe. Their strawberry sprinkle doughnut looks so delicious and is giving us major Homer Simpson vibes. (Closed through Father’s Day 2023)

Food Truck

Who doesn’t love food trucks? After the pop-pop shop, it’s time to check out The Donut Wagon. Since 2018, this mobile food truck sells made from scratch glazed donuts along with handcrafted soft pretzels.

Once a week, they visit local towns, events, festivals, and farmers’ markets to serve their products. You can follow their schedule on social media to find out where they’ll be next!

Delicious Donuts in Easley, SC

122 Folger Avenue, Easley, SC

You Drive Me Glazy offers gourmet mini donuts and customers get to custom-create each one they purchase.

Spartanburg, SC Donuts

147 E Main Street, Spartanburg, SC

Offering delicious donuts along with a breakfast and lunch menu, Downtown Deli & Donuts is a great place to go for a meal or just a yummy donut snack. Their donut flavors rotate weekly.

Due West Donuts

205 South Main Street, Due West, SC

Go early, because these delicious donuts from Mama’s Sweet Shoppe will sell out.

Donuts in Simpsonville, SC

926 NE Main Street, Simpsonville, SC

Lickin Good Donuts has some of the most unique flavors and yummy donuts, including ones covered in fruity pebbles!

219 West Butler Road, Mauldin, SC

Hand-made, gourmet donuts with a wide variety of toppings and fillings, plus breakfast sandwiches, is what you’ll find at Big Apple Donuts.

117 Batesville Road, Simpsonville, SC

Classic, fresh donuts, apple fritters, filed donuts and more at Maverick’s Donuts in Simpsonville.

Delicious Donuts in Gaffney, SC

720 S Granard St, Gaffney, SC 29341

Make your way to Gaffney to find more scratch-made donuts at Sunny’s Donuts! From apple fritters, cinnamon rolls, apple bear claws, jelly-filled donuts, to old-fashioned dour cream donuts, this donut shop serves homemade donuts to will leave you yearning for more than just one.

Donuts in Hendersonville, NC

309 North Main Street, Hendersonville, NC

McFarlan’s Bake Shop is an old-timey bakery filled with delicious cookies, pastries, pies, cakes and donuts. Try the Boston Cream or Glazed. We don’t think you’ll be disappointed. These donuts practically melt in your mouth.

Expect a long line, sometimes stretching out the door. But don’t worry, it goes pretty quick. Go early for the best selection.

By 1 pm on Saturdays, there are usually very few donuts left, which is what happened in the picture below!

Celebrate National Donut Day

Wondering where you can celebrate National Donut Day? Celebrated on the first Friday of June, this day was originally started by Salvation Army in Chicago as a way to honor their members who assisted in WWI by serving donuts to the troops. There are a few places in Greenville where you can grab some donut deals in celebration of National Donut Day.

We recommend checking with your nearest location to ensure that they are participating. In years past, there was local participation.

You can even show your kids how intelligent you are by telling them some fun facts such as:

Participating Krispy Kreme locations will be offering a free donut of your choice on National Doughnut Day!

Dunkin’ is offering a free classic doughnut with the purchase of any beverage on June 2nd to celebrate. Find a nearby Dunkin’ location.

Stop by the Greenville Duck Donut store and get a cinnamon sugar doughnut. No purchase is necessary. This promotion is only available in shop.

They are going all out for Donut Day. Visit Scout’s Doughnuts at 1700 E North Street for these deals on June 2: 1. 1st 10 people in the door get a free doughnut & coffee, 2. Senior Graduates get a free doughnut, 3. Balloons and temporary doughnut tats for the kids, 4. A raffle to win Scout’s merch & Methodical coffee beans, and 5. Cinnamon sugar & coffee samples

Still Hungry?

Find more delicious food to enjoy in our guide to Greenville’s Restaurants.

Where do you find your favorite donut in the Upstate?

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One local restaurant is garnering the attention of The Food Network for its special take on a quintessential southern dessert. Grits and Groceries in Belton will be featured on the Food Network’s “Top 5 Restaurants,” sometime next year.

Each show, hosted by Food Network stars, Sunny Anderson and Geoffry Zakharian, uncovers the top five places in the country to get a certain food item. Past episodes have focused on the best places to find fried chicken, the best burger and the best ice cream.

Grits & Groceries will be highlighted for the restaurant’s famous fried pies. The network will be filming at the restaurant from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, according to Heidi Trull, who co-owns Grits & Groceries with her husband, Joe.

“We about fell over ourselves when we got the call,” Heidi said about receiving notice from the Food Network that the restaurant had been chosen for the television show. “Of course we said yes.

In addition to filming the pie making process, the Network will be looking to interview customers at the restaurant as well, Heidi said. Producers will be looking for people to discuss the fried pies and what makes them so special.

The fried pie has a long history with the Trulls. The two Carolina natives – Joe is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Heidi is from Sumter – grew up eating the specialty hand pies in various forms and flavors. But Joe took the confection to the next level while working as a pastry chef for Emeril Lagassee at Lagasse’s famous New Orleans restaurant, NOLA. The result is a bourbon and brown sugar soaked fresh apple filling enwrapped by a flaky pie crust that is deep fried. Trull then coats the warm pies in a cinnamon and sugar mix to mimic the crust of the traditional skillet fried pies and serves it with homemade cinnamon ice cream.

“We make about 200 pies a week,” Heidi said.

The Food Network appearance will be a first for the Trulls, though the restaurant, and the fried pies, have been featured in The New York Times and Garden & Gun Magazine.

The air date for the show that features the Trulls and Girts & Groceries is yet to be announced, Heidi said. But she hopes the exposure will have a lasting effect on a small business that is the sole provider for seven families and also utilizes local producers and purveyors.

“It’s really more than just a pie,” she said.

If you're interested in visiting Grits & Groceries, the address is 2440 Due West Highway, Belton, SC 29627

This Fall Favorites Guide from South Carolina's Old 96 District will help kick-start your fall getaway planning.

In Partnership with Old 96 District – South Carolina

Fall is one of our favorite seasons for a reason! As the weather gets cooler and the leaves start to change, we’re ready to put on our sweaters and embrace the season. South Carolina’s Old 96 District captures the Fall spirit perfectly, making it a perfect stop on any road trip. Spanning the counties of Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens and McCormick, the district is home to many local farms, historic sites, unique shops, family-owned restaurants and more. Here are just some of our (many) favorite ways to celebrate the Fall in the Old 96 District.

Fall Foods

This wouldn’t be a proper Fall Favorites list if we didn’t talk about seasonal food. Our favorite taste in the District goes to the Apple Cider Donut at Mama’s Sweet Shoppe in Due West, SC. This charming bakery started from a humble camper selling donuts at the local farmers markets. They were so popular that they eventually grew to have their own brick-and-mortar place with lunch options and coffee. (Those are also delicious, if you were wondering.) Their menu changes daily, so keep an eye out for other decadent donut flavors like Raspberry Cheesecake and Maple Bacon.

Seasonal Sips

There’s just something magical about a glass of wine beside a campfire. Add live music and best friends to make an unforgettable evening! South Bend Winery in Greenwood, SC brings the whole package with delicious locally-made wine and backyard campfire seating. Swing by on a Saturday evening to enjoy live music. (We recommend ordering a charcuterie board for the table as well.)

Making Memories

Fall Festivals make for a great family outing or even romantic date. Fortunately for us, the Old 96 District has plenty. Hickory Hill Milk in Edgefield, SC welcomes guests on October Tuesdays to tour a working dairy farm, enjoy live music, explore the corn maze and more. Stewart Farms in Enoree, SC has a petting zoo and an expansive pumpkin patch ripe for the picking. Check out the whole calendar of events here.

The Great Outdoors

The Old 96 District has over 250 miles of hiking and biking trails! With so many options to choose from, the seasoned bike enthusiast to the fresh hiking beginner can find a match. Especially in the Fall, the weather becomes more temperate and the leaves change colors to create an even more scenic experience. It’s a must-trek for any outdoor lover looking to escape the crowds.

Ghosts

The only thing as South Carolinian as Bar-B-Que is a good ghost story! The Old 96 District has two Revolutionary War battlegrounds and too many historic buildings to name, so there’s always a good ghost story to share this spooky season. Some of our favorites include the haunted tours of Edgefield, where travelers can learn the bloody legend of Becky Cotton, dubbed “the Devil in Petticoats.” (There’s even a locally-made gin named after her.) Here’s a list of the Old 96 District’s Most Haunted Sites.

Stay

What better way to finish a Fall evening than to cozy up in a historic inn or bed & breakfast? Belmont Inn has been in service for over a century and rests right in the heart of Abbeville, SC next to the Abbeville Opera House, or enjoy a bed & breakfast experience at Sharon Manor only minutes away. Lady Amelia Bed & Breakfast Inn in Laurens County lets visitors cozy up in charming historic rooms, with a gourmet restaurant also on the grounds. If you’re looking for something dog-friendly, Greenwood, SC’s boutique hotel Inn on the Square is walking distance from several great restaurants and shops– and they have a jar of dog treats at the desk to welcome their furry guests.

This is only a small sampling of everything the Old 96 District has to offer. The next time you find yourself on a road trip through South Carolina, consider spending a night in the area and discovering all the unexpected wonders.

DUE WEST, S.C. (WSPA) – Parents in Abbeville County are concerned about conditions at two high schools in the district, originally built more than six decades ago.

“I don’t think you would send a prisoner to some of these bathrooms at both of these schools,” said parent Jo Beth Hite.

7News joined a public tour of Abbeville High School Tuesday and a public tour of Dixie High School Thursday.

The issue is in the spotlight because the school board is getting cost estimates for re-building both schools in phases and building a new, consolidated high school. Parents agree that something needs to be done, but not everyone agrees on how to address the aging buildings.

Dixie High School was built piecemeal, with parts of the schools built in the ’70s, parts built in the early ’00s, and original parts built in the ’50s.

“I’m glad to see that they are doing a really good job of keeping up their building here,” Hite said of Dixie. “I think this building is salvageable.”

According to the Dixie High School assistant principal, a group of citizens has raised more than $250,000 for the school since 2004 with the Dixie High School Foundation.

Hite toured both schools this week.

“I don’t think the Abbeville building is still salvageable,” she said.

However, she also said she thought the newer wing at Abbeville High built in 2002 was nicer than some older areas of Dixie High. Several parents told 7News they were shocked by the conditions at Abbeville High School this week.

Concerns came to light at a school board meeting a few weeks ago. One woman held up a water bottle filled with yellow water that she said came from Abbeville High School.

“We immediately went in and assessed the water situation at the high school,” said Abbeville County Schools Superintendent Dr. Julie Fowler. “Part of the problems at the high school are the result of pipes.”

She said the the city has since flushed the pipes. 7News observed the water from sinks and water fountains at Abbeville High School to be clear Tuesday.

Fowler said the district also did three tests for air quality and cleaned problem areas twice.

“At this point in time, we are comfortable in saying we have a report that says that the air quality is fine, or is safe, for students and our faculty and staff to be in,” she said.

Several members of the community told 7News they are very concerned about the cost to update.

The final decision about what will happen with the high schools will be up to voters.

Several members of the community told 7News they are very concerned about costs, both for re-building the schools and consolidating them.