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

Braintree, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Braintree Town City. It lies in ZIP code area 02184. It stands on Penns Hill. The Survey maps it on the Weymouth quadrangle.

Braintree within Norfolk County

Then and now

1885 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Braintree, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Braintree, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 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

348 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 348 fires within 5 miles of Braintree between 2015 and 2020, burning about 191 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 ceremony221
Smoking56
Missing data/not specified/undetermined32
Debris and open burning30
Fireworks3
Equipment and vehicle use3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
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 ControlWEYMOUTH
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 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
5 September 2015Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
4 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHINGHAM
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 9,283 shown

Museums hold 9,283 specimens collected within 10 miles of Braintree between 1815 and 1975: 4,769 Plantae, 2,411 Animalia, 1,677 Fungi, 271 Chromista, 106 Protozoa, 42 Unrecorded, 7 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), A C Gibson, A Phelps Wyman 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
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
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 Ranunculus L., not of this specimenRanunculus L.1815not recordedThicket at South Boston.
A photograph of the species Fallopia Adans., not of this specimenFallopia Adans.1816Boott, J.W.Andover Turnpike, near Boston. N. America.
A photograph of the species Cistus L., not of this specimenCistus L.1819Boott, J.W.Boston USA.
Lythraceae1819Boott, J.Boston, U.S.A.
Lythrum L.1819Boott, J.Boston, U.S.A.
Solanum bonariense L.1819Boott, J.W.Boston.
Solidago gigantea Aiton1819Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Porphyra purpurea, not of this specimenPorphyra purpurea (Roth) C.Agardh1820not recordedBoston.

All 9,283 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 18 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Braintree: 10 producers, 8 past producers. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Bates Brothers Realty Trust QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bates Brothers Seam Face Granite CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Bristol Pit & Plant LorussoStone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Ernest Minelli Inc QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Margetts QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Marshfield Sand and GravelGranitePast ProducerGranite
Old Colony Crushed StoneGranitePast ProducerGranite
Old Colony QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Plymouth QuarriesGranitePast ProducerGranite
Weymouth QuarryGraniteProducer

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms nearby

21 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Braintree in 21 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 5 flood, 3 lightning, 3 hail. 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 2010LightningSouth Braintree$250,000A house on Central Avenue caught fire after being struck by lightning. The fire spread quickly turning into a three alarm fire and causing substantial damage to the house. No one was home at the time of the fire.
June 1998LightningBraintree$60,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindSouth Braintree$15,000A trained spotter reported a wind gust to 62 mph. Numerous trees and wires across Braintree and Holbrook were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of these trees landed on a car on Roseway Street in Holbrook.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindBraintree$10,000no account filed
February 2016Thunderstorm WindSouth Braintree$5,000A tree on Russell Road in Braintree was downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindBraintree$5,000A large tree on Washington Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2008FloodSouth Braintree$5,000Heavy rain resulted in street flooding in several communities across Norfolk County. In Walpole, 50 to 75 feet of Pleasant Street was closed because of water four feet deep in the street. In Norwood, a vehicle was stuck in flood waters with the road impassable. And in Braintree, Union Street was flooded from poor drainage overflow where it crosses under the MBTA railroad bridge.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindSouth Braintree$2,000Wires on Commercial Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindSouth Braintree$1,000In Braintree at 605 PM EDT, a resident reported a 64 mph wind gust on their home anemometer. Damage in the immediate area was mostly downed tree limbs.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindEast Braintree$500In Quincy, a tree was down at Perley Place.
July 2025Flash FloodBraintree-In Braintree, the off ramp of the southern Rotary was flooded and impassable.
July 2025Flash FloodBraintree-In Braintree the Red Line T service was suspended between Quincy Adams and Braintree stops due to flooding.
June 2019HailSouth Braintree-At 2:09 PM EST, three-quarter inch diameter hail was reported at Braintree MA.
August 2017FloodBraintree-At 350 PM EST, Granite Street in Braintree had six to twelve inches of street flooding.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindBraintree-An amateur radio operator recorded a wind gust of 64 mph on their home weather station in Braintree. No damage was reported.
October 2014FloodBraintree-Route 37 was flooded near 275 Hancock Street. Traffic was diverted down Washington Street to Jefferson Street. Common Street from Granite to Washington was closed due to flooding.
June 2013FloodBraintree-Three to five inches of rain fell across the south Boston metro area. Grossman Drive and the underpass for the MBTA train tracks were flooded in Braintree. Also, Forbes Road near the bus terminal was flooded. In Holbrook, several roads flooded including South Franklin Street, Clara and Loud Roads, and Abington Avenue between Weymouth Street and White Road.
October 2012FloodSouth Braintree-The 600 block of Washington Street was flooded.
June 2010HailSouth Braintree-Quarter sized hail fell along the Braintree/Quincy line.
May 2015HailBraintree-no account filed
August 1999LightningBraintree-no account filed

Every storm 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
Five Corners1.2 miles42
South Commons1.2 miles38
South Quincy1.2 miles42
East Braintree1.3 miles38
South Braintree1.5 miles38
Quincy Center1.7 miles42
Old Boat Point1.8 miles38
Quincy Point1.9 miles38

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612876. 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.