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

Central Village, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Westport town. It lies in ZIP code area 02790. It stands on Snell Creek. The Survey maps it on the Head of Westport quadrangle.

Central Village within Bristol County

Then and now

1888 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Central Village, surveyed 1985

Topographic sheet of Central Village, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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

119,038 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 Westport Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Documentary History. - The following is a record of the first town-meeting, with names of officers elected, together with other interesting votes, among which appear the votes concerning the location and building of the first town-house, which seemed to have given the good j>eople of the town considerable vexation :

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

About 1833 they were troubled with Mormon missionaries, who persisted in occupying their house of worship, and in 1844 they were greatly annoyed by those who headed the cry, " Come ye out of Babylon," but the timely counsel of Rev. I. H. Coe, and the

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

The first mention of a Sabbath-school is July 16, 1842, but it is known to have existed before this. Jan. 9, 1844, the society was incorporated, and in 1854 pews were put in the house of worship. Present value of property is about eight hundred dollars. In 1842, Abner G. Devol was "licensed to improve his gift." Since then James L. Pierce, John G. Gammons, Gideon W. Tripp, as ordained ministers, and Robert A. Lawton, a licentiate from this church, have joined the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Christian Conference, the church joining September, 1862.

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 Westport Town - it names this place 4 more 4 times.

Fires near this place

34 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Central Village between 2002 and 2020, burning about 29 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 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	13
Arson/incendiarism	8
Debris and open burning	5
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Recreation and ceremony	3
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Fireworks	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
15 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 August 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 July 2018	Fireworks	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 June 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
15 June 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
1 June 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
7 May 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.2 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 May 2017	Arson/incendiarism	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 2,015 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,015 specimens collected within 10 miles of Central Village between 1824 and 1975: 899 Animalia, 575 Fungi, 479 Plantae, 52 Chromista, 7 Unrecorded, 3 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by 99121, A. B. Gridley, A. B. Hervey 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
Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera	1824	T. A. Greene
Lythrum salicaria L.	1831	T. A. Greene
Mentha aquatica L.	1831	Collector unknown	New Bedford. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
Bangia fuscopurpurea (Dillwyn) Lyngbye	1846	Illegible	Sauconnet Point, RI
Ptilota elegans Bonnemaison	1846	none seen	Sauconnet Point, Little Compton, RI
Trypethelium virens Tuck.	1848	ex herb. Oakes	New Bedford.
Ranunculus bulbosus L.	1850	not recorded
Vitis labrusca L.	1850	not recorded
Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fr.	1851	G. W. Fahnstock	Seaconnet
Ceramium rubrum C.Agardh	1854	M. E. Fahnestock	Seaconnet
Ceramium strictum (Kütz.) Rabenh., 1847	1854	Mary E. Fahuestock	Seaconnet
Champia parvula (C.Agardh) Harv.	1854	Mary E. Fahuestock	Seaconnet

All 2,015 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Central Village: 7 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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
Clearwater Stone Inc	Stone	Past Producer
Boan Farm Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Clearwater Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Dartmouth Town Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Joseph F Toste and Sons	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Joseph Toste Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Louis Fernandez Sand and Gravel	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Medeiros Washed Sand & Stone Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Westport Division	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working 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
Handy Four Corners	0.8 miles	37
Macombers Corner	0.9 miles	37
Booth Corner	1.0 miles	37
Snell Corner	1.0 miles	37
South Westport	1.8 miles	37
Kirby Corner	2.0 miles	37
Camp Noquochoke	2.1 miles	37
Gidleys Corner	2.8 miles	37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613193. 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.