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

Beach Bluff, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Swampscott town. It lies in ZIP code area 01907. It stands on Legg Hill. The Survey maps it on the Lynn quadrangle.

Beach Bluff within Essex County

Then and now

1892 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Beach Bluff, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Beach Bluff, surveyed 1892

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

35 since 2003

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 35 fires within 5 miles of Beach Bluff between 2003 and 2020, burning about 155 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 3 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
Recreation and ceremony15
Smoking5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Debris and open burning2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Fireworks1
Natural1
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
27 September 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2017Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlPEABODY
4 August 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
27 August 2017Recreation and ceremony10 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control16TH HOLE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 8,949 shown

Museums hold 8,949 specimens collected within 10 miles of Beach Bluff between 1800 and 1975: 3,809 Plantae, 2,810 Animalia, 904 Chromista, 773 Fungi, 457 Unrecorded, 151 Bacteria, 45 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A B. Proper, A H HIGGINSON, A. A. Eaton 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.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Rhodocollybia prolixa, not of this specimenRhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel.1800R. B. MackintoshPeabody
Erysiphaceae1803A. B. Seymour
A photograph of the species Brasenia schreberi, not of this specimenBrasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.1821not recordedPleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
A photograph of the species Amaranthus cannabinus, not of this specimenAmaranthus cannabinus (L.) Sauer1822not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex echinata, not of this specimenCarex echinata subsp. echinata1834Collector unspecifiedChelsea. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Lecanora tartarea, not of this specimenLecanora tartarea (L.) Ach.1839E. TuckermanManchester
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia yasudae, not of this specimenOchrolechia yasudae Vainio1839Tuckerman, E.[USA] Manchester, Massachusetts.
A photograph of the species Desmarestia viridis, not of this specimenDesmarestia viridis (O.F.Müll.) J.V.Lamour.1841C. E. PeaseMarblehead
A photograph of the species Polysiphonia urceolata, not of this specimenPolysiphonia urceolata (Lightfoot ex Dillwyn) Greville1841F. S. CollinsRevere Beach, Revere, MA
A photograph of the species Splachnum ampullaceum, not of this specimenSplachnum ampullaceum Hedw.1843A. Gray; W. S. SullivantManchester
A photograph of the species Carex caryophyllea, not of this specimenCarex caryophyllea Latourr.1847C. DeweySalem
A photograph of the species Carex muhlenbergii, not of this specimenCarex muhlenbergii Kunth ex Boott1847F. M. B. Boott

All 8,949 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Beach Bluff: 4 plants, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zirconium, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Mercury. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
(Facility) Travers Labs Refinery--Beverly, Ma.Mercury, Silver, Gold, REEPlant
Lynn Eastern Smelt & Refin CorpGold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, MercuryPlant
Thiokol Ventron Div--Beverly, Ma.ZirconiumPlant
Ventron Corp--Beverly, Ma.ZirconiumPast Producer
Swampscott PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Swampscott QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Swampscott QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Essex 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Clifton0.4 miles43
Phillips Point1.2 miles43
Swampscott1.8 miles43
West Town Landing2.0 miles40
Marblehead2.1 miles40
South Salem2.2 miles42
East Lynn2.3 miles43
Salem2.8 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613295. 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.