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

Blissville, Massachusetts

34 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Orange town. It lies in ZIP code area 01364. It stands on Fish Brook. The Survey maps it on the Mount Grace quadrangle.

Blissville within Franklin County

Then and now

1887 to 1990

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 Blissville, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of Blissville, surveyed 1887

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.

Fires nearby

7 since 2004

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Blissville between 2004 and 2020, burning about 6 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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 burning3
Recreation and ceremony2
Fireworks1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
10 August 2020Fireworks1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlTULLY MT FIRE
18 June 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 June 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
10 April 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
10 April 2004Arson/incendiarism1.5 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
22 March 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 284 shown

Museums hold 284 specimens collected within 10 miles of Blissville between 1856 and 1974: 115 Fungi, 96 Plantae, 72 Animalia, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. M. Ottley, A. S. Goodale, S.F. Potsubay, F.R. St. John, A. S. Goodale, W.C. Markert 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
Specimen of Dryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) WattDryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) Watt1896Leonard, F.E.Northfield, Mass.
A photograph of the species Pyxine sorediata, not of this specimenPyxine sorediata (Ach.) Mont.1856Charles C. Frost
A photograph of the species Microtus pennsylvanicus, not of this specimenMicrotus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)1873not recordedNorthfield, Franklin County
A photograph of the species Microtus pinetorum, not of this specimenMicrotus pinetorum (Le Conte, 1830)1873not recordedNorthfield, Franklin County
A photograph of the species Teucrium canadense, not of this specimenTeucrium canadense var. canadense1873not recorded
A photograph of the species Calla palustris, not of this specimenCalla palustris L.1880G. H. LelandNorthfield Mountain
A photograph of the species Cetraria Ach., not of this specimenCetraria Ach., 18031881not recordedNorthfield
A photograph of the species Panax trifolius, not of this specimenPanax trifolius L.1882Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Dryopteris intermedia, not of this specimenDryopteris intermedia (Muhl. ex Willd.) A.Gray1887Leonard, F.E.'The Glen', Northfield.
A photograph of the species Caliciopsis pinea, not of this specimenCaliciopsis pinea Peck1928Hansbrough J. R.Athol
A photograph of the species Catostomus commersonii, not of this specimenCatostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)1928CL & LC HubbsTrib. of Miller's River, South Athol, NW border of Worcester Co., below a dam-pond, above res.; Connecticut system
A photograph of the species Corticium confluens, not of this specimenCorticium confluens (Fr.) Fr.1928Hansbrough J. R.Athol

All 284 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 19 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Blissville: 8 occurrences, 5 past producers, 3 producers, 3 prospects. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Mica, Mica, Feldspar, Feldspar. 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
Talc QuarryTalc-SoapstoneProducerMetamorphic
Talc QuarryTalc-SoapstonePast Producer
Orange Mica MineMica, FeldsparOccurrence1940
Orange Mica MineMica, FeldsparOccurrence
Pegmatite QuarryMica, FeldsparOccurrencePegmatite
Pegmatite QuarryMica, FeldsparProducerPegmatite
Pegmatite QuarryMica, FeldsparPast Producer
Pegmatite QuarryMica, FeldsparPast Producer
Pegmatite QuarryMica, FeldsparPast Producer
Pegmetite QuarryMica, FeldsparProducerFeldspar, Mica

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms nearby

1 since 2025

The National Weather Service names Blissville in 1 storm report between 2025 and 2025: 1 flash 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2025Flash FloodBlissville-In Orange, a portion of Town Farm Road was washed out.

Every storm recorded in Franklin 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
Mayo Corners2.1 miles34
North Orange2.7 miles34
Tully2.8 miles36
Camp Warwick2.9 miles34
Warwick3.5 miles34
Packard Heights3.6 miles36
Orange6.0 miles32
West Orange6.2 miles32

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609390. 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.