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

Assonet, Massachusetts

34 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Freetown town. It lies in ZIP code area 02702. It stands on Profile Rock. The Survey maps it on the Assonet quadrangle.

Assonet within Bristol County

Then and now

1885 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Assonet, surveyed 1985

Topographic sheet of Assonet, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

34 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.

In the county-history sources

27,587 words on this township

History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 names this settlement in its chapter on Freetown Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Enoch Hunt, the paternal ancestor of Cyrus D., came from England to Wessagussett (Weymouth) with the first settlers of that ancient town. He was a blacksmith by trade. He returned to England, but his son Ephraim, born in England in 1610, remained in Weymouth, and became the progenitor of the Weymouth line of the Hunt family. He, like his father, was a blacksmith, and married for his first wife Anna Richards, and for his second, Ebbitt Barns. By these two wives he had six sons, who became the fathers of twenty-six sons and as many daughters, whose descendants are numbered by thousands, and have settled in all parts of the United States.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

The geographical limits of Freetown are now very dissimilar and unlike those of that section of country purchased of the Indians two hundred and twentyfour years ago, nor were those wholly identical with the boundaries of the tract incorporated two centuries since under the name that it still continues to bear.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Thus it appears that between April 2, 1659 (the date of purchase), and July, 1683 (when incorporated), the supposed limits of Freetown grew considerably less, for these, as set forth in the Indian deed, overlapped and covered lands in several adjoining towns at an earlier date by the Indians sold to European purchasers, and in the several decisions permanently locating the bound. Freetown purchasers were the parties decided against until Freetown, as incorporated, embraced but about three-fourths the territory set forth in the deed of purchase.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Freetown Town - it names this place 25 more 25 times.

Fires near this place

46 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 46 fires within 5 miles of Assonet between 2015 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	22
Debris and open burning	17
Fireworks	2
Arson/incendiarism	2
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
6 August 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.5 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
1 August 2020	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
31 July 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 July 2018	Fireworks	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 July 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
20 July 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
18 July 2020	Fireworks	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bristol County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,102 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,102 specimens collected within 10 miles of Assonet between 1850 and 1975: 756 Animalia, 250 Plantae, 85 Fungi, 9 Chromista, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A E Schuyler, A. C. Birch 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
Ranunculus bulbosus L.	1850	not recorded
Vitis labrusca L.	1850	not recorded
Apocynum cannabinum L.	1855	F. C. Seymour	Rehoboth
Astur Lacepède, 1799	1860	C. D. Lincoln	Taunton
Carex panicea L.	1863	J. H. Dean
Carex L.	1864	J. H. Dean	Taunton.
Carex vulpinoidea Michx.	1864	J. H. Dean
Chondrus crispus Stackhouse	1874	F. Wolle	Fall River
Conomitrium julianum (Savi ex DC.) Mont.	1874	unknown	Fall River
Ectocarpus littoralis (L.) Lyngb.	1874	F. Wolle	Fall River
Ulva latissima L.	1874	F. Wolle	Fall River
Chelidonium majus L.	1875	not recorded

All 1,102 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Assonet: 3 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Assonet Sand and Gravel Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
East Freetown Pit & Assonet Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Freetown Development Co. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Lanzisera Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Randy Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Bristol County

Storms near this place

8 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Assonet in 8 storm reports between 2008 and 2020: 3 lightning, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood, 1 hail. The reports record 2 injuries. 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
July 2008	Lightning	Assonet	1 hurt	Lightning struck a delivery truck driver, injuring him, at the Stop and Shop. No information was available on his age.
July 2008	Lightning	Assonet	1 hurt	A 54 year old woman was struck by lightning in her cellar. She suffered some numbness in her fingers and right leg, but was otherwise uninjured.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Assonet	$7,000	At 308 PM EST, trees were brought down on wires on Water Street and Jeffrey Lane in Freetown. Multiple trees were brought down on Main Street.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Assonet	$5,000	Wires on High Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
December 2008	Flood	Assonet	$5,000	The Assonet River overflowed out of its banks flooding homes on Main Street in Assonet. The Buffington Brook in Somerset overflowed its banks flooding Route 138. The Acushnet Department of Public Works was flooded because of poor drainage. The Palmer River in Rehoboth overflowed its banks flooding River Road. In addition, the Wolf Run River overflowed its banks flooding Rocky Hill Road, also in Rehoboth.
April 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Assonet	$4,000	In the Assonet portion of Freetown at 309 PM EST (409 PM EDT), a flag pole was blown down and was leaning on power lines on Prospect Road.
July 2019	Lightning	Assonet	$2,000	In Assonet, lightning struck the Forest Fire building at the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, causing minor damage to the building.
August 2008	Hail	Assonet	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bristol 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
Assonet Bay Shores	1.2 miles	34
Camp Welch	1.8 miles	34
Camp Merriwood	1.9 miles	34
Buffington Corner	2.1 miles	34
Old Town Landing	2.9 miles	34
Dighton	3.0 miles	34
Myricks	3.2 miles	34
Berkley Bridge	3.3 miles	34

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613036. 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.