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

Charlestown, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Boston City. It lies in ZIP code area 02129. It stands on Breeds Hill. The Survey maps it on the Boston North quadrangle.

Charlestown within Suffolk County

Then and now

1893 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Charlestown, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Charlestown, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Boston city, in the words of 1894.

1894, Boston City

City Charter

IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.

Read the rest of this passage

Fires nearby

69 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 69 fires within 5 miles of Charlestown between 2015 and 2020, burning about 104 acres in total. None started naturally. 23 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
Arson/incendiarism23
Missing data/not specified/undetermined18
Debris and open burning12
Recreation and ceremony8
Smoking6
Equipment and vehicle use1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROOKLINE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Suffolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 17,632 shown

Museums hold 17,632 specimens collected within 10 miles of Charlestown between 1810 and 1975: 8,008 Plantae, 4,191 Fungi, 3,626 Animalia, 1,276 Chromista, 229 Bacteria, 185 Protozoa, 117 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A C Gibson 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 Betula L., not of this specimenBetula L.1815Boott, J.W.Near Fresh Pond, Cambridge, 4 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Chenopodium album, not of this specimenChenopodium album L.1815not recordedGathered at Bunker (properly Breed's) Hill.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
Acanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
Acer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Acer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
Agaricus flavescens (Gillet) Sacc.1900G. E. Morris
Agarum turneri Postels & Ruprecht1900J. MurdochRevere

All 17,632 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 13 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Charlestown: 9 plants, 2 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gypsum-Anhydrite. 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) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.Copper, LeadPlant
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Whittemore Prdts Inc--BostonPerlitePlant
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
General Metals & Smelting--BostonLeadPlant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant

Every working recorded in Suffolk County

Storms nearby

7 since 2010

The National Weather Service names Charlestown in 7 storm reports between 2010 and 2022: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 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
March 2010FloodCharlestown$10,700,000Heavy rains resulted in flooding across much of Boston. This flooding resulted in damage to the collections at both the Bostonian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society. In addition, several roads in Dorchester and Revere were closed. A portion of the MBTA Green line was closed between Fenway Park and Kenmore for several hours on Monday due to a flooded tunnel. A portion of the MBTA Red line was closed between Ashmont and Fields Corner because of flooded tracks. Passengers were transported by bus.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindCharlestown$20,000Multiple trees were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2018FloodCharlestown$10,000At 6:30 AM EST, Storrow Drive near U.S. Route 1 was flooded and impassable, with a car trapped in the floodwaters. At 6:33 AM EST, Storrow Drive was also flooded and impassable in the Lagoon area along the Back Bay; cars were driving across the median to avoid the flooding. At 6:40 AM a car was trapped in floodwaters under the Massachusetts Avenue bridge. At 6:49 AM Heath Street was flooded and impassable.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindCharlestown$10,000Trees and wires on Colberg Avenue and Aldrich Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindCharlestown$800In Boston, a tree was down on wires on Blossom Street.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindCharlestown$500In Boston, a tree was down on Bulfinch Place, near the Channel 7 news station.
August 2011HailCharlestown-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Suffolk 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
North End1.0 miles46
East Boston1.2 miles46
Boston1.3 miles46
Beacon Hill1.4 miles46
Downtown Crossing1.6 miles46
Jeffries Point1.8 miles46
Dock Square1.8 miles46
Chelsea1.8 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 619308. 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.