Dorothy Pond, Massachusetts
44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Millbury town. It lies in ZIP code area 01527. It stands on Broad Meadow Brook. The Survey maps it on the Worcester South quadrangle.
Then and now
1889 to 1989The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
20 surveys from 44 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1889 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1921 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1935 USGS Millbury quadrangle1:24000
- 1939 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:31680, 4 printings
- 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:31680
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1973 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000
- 1973 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000
- 1975 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000
- 1983 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
20,102 words on this townshipHistory of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Millbury Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Topography. - Millbury is bounded on the north by Worcester, south by Sutton, east by Grafton and west by Auburn and Oxford. The town has an area of ten thousand one hundred and six acres, or fifteen and seventy-nine one-hundredths square miles. In the east part of the town is Dorothy Pond, called in the proprietors' books of Sutton "' South Pond." Whitney, the historiau in 1793, calls it "Dorret's" Pond. This is a fine sheet of water, and was once used in connection with the Blackstone Canal ; from this pond flows a fine stream that is used for manufacturing purposes, which soon after joins the Blackstone River. The town is diversified by hills, valleys and intervale. From the Worcester line, down through Armory Village, is the valley of the Blackstone.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
1878. - March 18. Six hundred dollars voted for lighting the streets. " Voted, that the Town prohibit the encampment of Gypsies within its limits." " Voted, that the selectmen be authorized to take for the Town from the Commissioners of Inland fi.sheries a lease to the Town of Dorothy Pond.'' " Voted, that ihe Town build a Town-Hall," and a committee of nine was appointed to get plans and estimates. C. D. Morse, chairman. They were also to find a suitable location and report. " Voted three thousand dollars for support of Poor."
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
58 since 2002Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 58 fires within 5 miles of Dorothy Pond between 2002 and 2020, burning about 34 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 26 August 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 13 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 6 July 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 July 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 25 July 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 5 June 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 27 June 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 1,550 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,550 specimens collected within 10 miles of Dorothy Pond between 1839 and 1974: 932 Plantae, 342 Animalia, 253 Fungi, 14 Unrecorded, 5 Protozoa, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh. | 1896 | Henderson | |
![]() | Coryneum pulvinatum Kunze | 1897 | D. Murray | |
![]() | Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon | 1899 | H. H. Scudder | |
![]() | Ochrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal. | 1839 | E. Tuckerman | |
![]() | Carex laxiflora Lam. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
![]() | Carex vestita Willd. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
![]() | Mycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner | 1848 | E. Tuckerman | |
![]() | Cladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson | 1850 | J. L. Russell | Leicester |
![]() | Geranium maculatum L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
![]() | Packera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1850 | not recorded | |
![]() | Carex aperta Boott | 1853 | W. Boott | Massachusetts |
| Elymus repens (L.) Gould | 1892 | Arthur B. Seymour | Cambridge. |
All 1,550 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Dorothy Pond: 7 past producers, 7 producers, 3 plants, 1 unknown. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Titanium, Metal, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma. | Lead | Plant | ||
| Crucible Spec. Metals--Auburn, Ma. | Iron | Plant | ||
| Shrewsbury Trap Rock | Stone | Producer | ||
| Worcester B Plant Ti | Titanium, Metal | Plant | ||
| 30 Southwest Cutoff Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| A H Marando and Sons | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Auburn Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Bannister Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Defalco | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Defalco Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorothy Manor | 0.3 miles | 44 | |
| East Millbury | 0.9 miles | 45 | |
| Oakland Heights | 1.1 miles | 44 | |
| South Grafton Street | 1.4 miles | 44 | |
| Millbury Junction | 1.7 miles | 45 | |
| Sunderland | 1.8 miles | 44 | |
| Massasoit | 1.8 miles | 44 | |
| Millbury | 1.8 miles | 44 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610620. 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.






























