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Blue Hills, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Milton town. It lies in ZIP code area 02186. It stands on Trout Brook. The Survey maps it on the Blue Hills quadrangle.

Blue Hills within Norfolk 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 Blue Hills, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Blue Hills, surveyed 1886

On record in Blue Hills

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 3 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

19 surveys from 42 printed 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

31,195 words on this township

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Milton Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In 1636 the town of Dorchester obtained a grant of nearly the whole territory now comprising the town of Milton, which was the first of a liberal series of grants made by the colony to that important town. This movement was the signal for the commencement of the actual occupation and settlement of Milton, and the twenty-five years which passed, during the connection with Dorchester until the independent establishment of the town, sufficed to collect about thirty families, with which the town's separate career began. It was usual, in occupying new territory at that time, to obtain a release of the Indian title from their chiefs; and accordingly, in October, 1636, the Neponset Sagamore Cutshamoquin, for twenty-eight fathoms of wampum conveys, for the use of the Dorchester plantation, all the land south of Neponset to the Blue Hills, to Richard Collicot (town corporations not then created), reserving certain lands which Mr. Collicot's name appears among the early inhabitants of Dorchester, and he is mentioned as a licensed furdealer, which occupation seems to have brought him early into intimate relations with the native Indians. He obtained a lot of one hundred and twenty acres at Unquety (doubtless the Pratt farm), and built there a house, perhaps the first dwelling in the town. He seems to have been a most active and useful man, - selectman and deputy for the town of Dorchester, officer of the artillery company, member of the Synod at Cambridge; at one time trading with the settlements in Maine, now aiding Governor Endicott

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

standing next beyond the Robbins house, on Brush Hill, it must have been built as early as 1680, and is undoubtedly the oldest house in Milton. Next to it in age, and of a date not much more recent, is the Billings house. Both these houses are of a primitive order of architecture, and evidently belong to a present century, and was a favorite place of resort, especially at the cherry and strawberry seasons, for parties from Boston and the neighboring towns. The Blue Hills were more visited in those days than now, when the summit of Mount Washington is hardly a day's journey from Boston.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

" Looking southward on the same highway, the old Plymouth road, the eye glides along a scene hardly less picturesque which embraces the intervale and the hills beyond. Standing on Brush Hill, with no intervening obstruction between you and the Blue Hills, there lies spread out before you nature in one of her royal moods, a study worthy of some gifted artist. Passing on to the south, and ascending the hills themselves, which in a less modest nomenclature than ours would be classified as mountains, and there, on the summit, lies before you a magnificent panorama of cities, villages, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, the ocean, where one may contemplate with reverence the works of the Creator, the intelligence of man, the life and growth of society, and the events of history which have transpired in successive generations within the bounds of the horizon.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

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 Milton Town - it names this place 3 more 3 times.

Fires near this place

200 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 200 fires within 5 miles of Blue Hills between 2003 and 2020, burning about 418 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
Recreation and ceremony121
Missing data/not specified/undetermined36
Smoking34
Equipment and vehicle use5
Debris and open burning3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
5 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWESTWOOD
3 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEDHAM
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
28 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 13,066 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 13,066 specimens collected within 10 miles of Blue Hills between 1810 and 1975: 4,867 Plantae, 4,222 Fungi, 3,392 Animalia, 291 Protozoa, 187 Chromista, 71 Unrecorded, 36 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow 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 Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corydalis Vent., not of this specimenCorydalis Vent.1815Boott, F.M.B.Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Hepatica Mill., not of this specimenHepatica Mill.1815Boott, F.M.B.Sweet Auburn.
A photograph of the species Limonium vulgare, not of this specimenLimonium vulgare Mill.1815not recordedOn Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Mollugo verticillata, not of this specimenMollugo verticillata L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Nuphar Sm., not of this specimenNuphar Sm.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Persicaria Mill., not of this specimenPersicaria (L.) Mill.1815Boott, J.W.Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Populus L., not of this specimenPopulus L.1815not recordedCambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.

All 13,066 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 Blue Hills: 2 unknowns, 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite. 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
Old Colony Crushed StoneGranitePast ProducerGranite
Canton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Canton Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Old Colony QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
West Roxbury Crushed Stone OperatioStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown

Every working recorded in Norfolk 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
Camp Sayre0.7 miles42
Milton Center1.2 miles46
Milton Upper Mills1.3 miles46
Adamsville (historical)1.5 miles42
Milton1.7 miles42
Milton Village2.1 miles46
Forbes Wharf2.6 miles46
Readville Manor2.6 miles41

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612871. 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.