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

Devens, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Harvard town. It lies in ZIP code area 01434. It stands on Cold Spring Brook. The Survey maps it on the Ayer quadrangle.

Devens within Worcester County

Then and now

1893 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Devens, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Devens, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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

73 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of Devens between 2002 and 2020, burning about 2,634 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 burning29
Missing data/not specified/undetermined28
Recreation and ceremony6
Smoking4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Railroad operations and maintenance2
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
26 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 September 2015Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 September 2017Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 August 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 August 2017Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined300 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDEVENS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,171 shown

Museums hold 2,171 specimens collected within 10 miles of Devens between 1861 and 1974: 1,156 Animalia, 571 Plantae, 378 Fungi, 47 Protozoa, 12 Unrecorded, 7 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson, A. Ferrett 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 Exidia glandulosa (Bull.) Fr.Exidia glandulosa (Bull.) Fr.1896F. O. GroverProspect Hill
Specimen of Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Dryobates pubescens, not of this specimenDryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)1861not recordedBolton
A photograph of the species Clemmys insculpta, not of this specimenClemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 18351864Agassiz
A photograph of the species Bromus sterilis, not of this specimenBromus sterilis L.1879C. E. Faxon
A photograph of the species Megascops asio, not of this specimenMegascops asio asio (Linnaeus, 1758)1879Smith, J. C.; Thomas Wilmer Dewing collectionGroton
A photograph of the species Papaver orientale, not of this specimenPapaver orientale L.1880unknownTownsend.
A photograph of the species Strix varia, not of this specimenStrix varia varia Barton, 17991880Smith, J. C.; Thomas Wilmer Dewing collectionGroton
unnamed1881Sargent, F. L.Groton, Mass. [Massachusetts]
A photograph of the species Conocephalum conicum, not of this specimenConocephalum conicum (L.) Underw.1881Charles W. Swan
A photograph of the species Hypericum gentianoides, not of this specimenHypericum gentianoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.1881Fredrick L SargentLunenburg
Arthuriomyces peckianus (Howe) Cummins & Y.Hirats.1892W. B. Hosmer

All 2,171 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Devens: 4 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 occurrence. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Kyanite. 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
Oak Hill Andalusite OccurrenceKyaniteOccurrenceMetamorphic
Keating Quarry & MillStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Keating Quarry and MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hazen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Joy Contracting TcSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Shirley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Willow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester 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
Harvard Station1.7 miles41
Shaker Village3.2 miles41
Camp Green Eyrie3.4 miles43
Harvard3.5 miles41
Still River3.7 miles43
Lunenburg Station4.8 miles44
Ponakin Mill5.9 miles43
Goodrichville6.0 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 2629782. 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.