Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Acton, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Acton town. It lies in ZIP code area 01720. It stands on Marys Brook. The Survey maps it on the Maynard quadrangle.

Acton within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Acton, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Acton, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

43 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires nearby

31 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of Acton between 2015 and 2020, burning about 12 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	22
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Recreation and ceremony	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
16 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
2 July 2017	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
19 July 2020	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
24 June 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
8 May 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
5 May 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 May 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
27 May 2019	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 662 shown

Museums hold 662 specimens collected within 10 miles of Acton between 1898 and 1975: 392 Animalia, 187 Plantae, 76 Fungi, 4 Protozoa, 2 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. C. Gibson and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822	1900	not recorded	Wayland
Boletus griseus Frost	1898	H. Webster
Dumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)	1898	Collector(s): Will C. Colt	Lincoln
Lophodermium pinastri (Schrad.) Chevall.	1898	Hubbard F. T.; Hall G. G.	Lincoln
Pipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758)	1898	not recorded	Lincoln
Salix eriocephala Michx.	1898	E. F. Williams
Viola brittoniana Pollard	1898	Henry A. Purdie
Aythya marila nearctica Stejneger, 1885	1899	Schiøler, Eiler Theodor Lehn	Massachusetts
Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.	1899	E. F. Williams
Boletus auriporus Peck	1900	G. E. Morris
Boletus rubropunctus Peck	1900	G. E. Morris
Cephalanthus occidentalis L.	1900	M. Rodman	Concord.

All 662 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 20 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Acton: 12 past producers, 6 producers, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Carlisle Deposit	Copper	Occurrence
Cu Prospect	Copper	Past Producer
Acton Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Acton Pit--Assabet S & G	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Acton Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Acton Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Assabet Sand and Gravel Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Boxborough Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Britt Construction	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Britt Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

23 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Acton in 23 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 16 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$15,000	Several large trees and tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds near Route 111.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$15,000	A number of trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$15,000	Trees and wires on Stow, Martin, Main, and School Streets were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$6,000	At 154 PM EST, a tree was brought down on a moving car on Newtown Road in Acton.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$5,000	At 5:42 PM EST, trees were down and blocking Notre Dame Road in Acton.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	East Acton	$5,000	At 5:42 PM EST, trees were down and blocking Main Street in Acton.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$5,000	Large branches were downed by thunderstorm winds on Route 27.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$5,000	Trees on River Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	East Acton	$4,000	In Acton, there were multiple trees down along Central St, Windsor Ave, Prospect St, and Main St.
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	East Acton	$2,000	In Acton, multiple trees were down with 12+ inch diameter at Tuttle Dr and Lothrop Rd.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$2,000	Two trees on Route 2A were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$2,000	no account filed
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$1,000	In Acton, there were 2 trees down on Newtown Rd.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	East Acton	$500	In Concord, a tree was down on College Rd.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	$200	In Acton, a tree was reported down on Massachusetts Ave.
September 2023	Flood	East Acton	-	In Acton, Rt 27 was closed by Kelly Corner.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Acton	-	Numerous trees throughout town were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015	Hail	East Acton	-	no account filed
June 2011	Hail	East Acton	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Acton	-	no account filed
July 2008	Hail	Acton	-	no account filed
July 1998	Hail	Acton	-	no account filed
October 1996	Flash Flood	Acton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Middlesex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Kelly Corner	1.3 miles	43
East Acton	1.4 miles	43
South Acton	2.1 miles	43
North Acton	2.2 miles	43
Damons Mills Westvale	2.3 miles	43
West Acton	2.3 miles	43
Village of Nagog Woods	2.3 miles	43
West Concord	2.7 miles	43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611424. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.