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

Eliot, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Newton City. It lies in ZIP code area 02461. It stands on Winchester Hill. The Survey maps it on the Newton quadrangle.

Eliot within Middlesex 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 Eliot, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Eliot, 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 Newton city, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 - Newton City

Newton

JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

124,955 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Newton City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Indian converts maintained unshaken their fidelity to the English, such was the prejudice against them and fear of them, that the General Court, on the breaking out of Philip's War, ordered them to be removed to Deer Island, in Boston Harbor, and Captain Prentice, with his troopers, was charged with the execution of t!ie order. Their number, including men, women, and cliildren, was about two hundred.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Vincent Druce was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham, being there in 1636, and had land granted to him there in 1636 and in 1637. His son John was baptized in Hingham, in April, 1641. In 1650 Nicholas Hodgden, of that part of Boston now Brookline, conveyed to Thomas Hammond and Vincent Druce, of Cambridge, a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining Jolm Parker's land, which land \\as originally granted by the town of Cambridge to Robert Bradish. The highway from Cambridge Village to Muddy River (Brookline) was laid out through these lands in 1658. John Ward conveyed to Druce one hundred and thirty acres of land, bounded east by the Roxbury line and north by Muddy River line. His dwelling-house was near the spot afterwards occupied by the school-house in the east part of the town, not far from the mansion of the late F. ^I. Johnson, Esq. Of his two sons, Vincent and John, the latter was a soldier in Captain Prentice's troop of horse, and was killed in the war with King Philip at Mount Hope in 1675, aged thirty-four, and was probably the iirst victim who fell in that war from Cambridge Village. The former, Vincent, died in January, 1678.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Ensign John Ward was born in England, in 1636. He was the eldest son of William Ward, who, with his second wife, Elizabeth, and other children, came from Yorkshire or Derbyshire, and settled in Sudbury, where he had lands assigned to him in 1640. John Ward married Hannah, the daughter of Edward Jackson, in 1650 ; was selectman nine years, from 1679, and a representative eight years, being the first representative sent from Cambridge Village. The first year, 1689, he served fifty-four days, and the Village voted " Is. &(L per day for his serving." His dwelling-house was constructed for a garrison-house about 1661, and used as such during King Philip's War. This ancient building stood on the ground occupied at ])resent by the house of the heirs of Ephraini Ward, a descendant of John, and was demolished in ] 8:2 1 . This house and forty-five acres of land were conveyed to John and Hannah by his father-in-law, Fidward Jackson, by deed dated March 10, 1661. lie owned about five hundred acres of land, which he distrihiited among his .'Jons by deeiU of gift in 17111. He was by trade a turner. He liiul eight Mills Mild live ilauirhtcrs, and died ,lulv 1, 1708, aged eighty-two. His wife, Hannah, died April S^, 1704, aged seventy-three. There were twelve of this name among the early settlers of New England.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

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 Newton City - it names this place 57 more 57 times.

Fires near this place

115 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 115 fires within 5 miles of Eliot between 2003 and 2020, burning about 390 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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
Recreation and ceremony59
Missing data/not specified/undetermined38
Smoking7
Debris and open burning5
Arson/incendiarism3
Other causes1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWELLESLEY
21 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,570 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,570 specimens collected within 10 miles of Eliot between 1898 and 1975: 1,335 Animalia, 630 Plantae, 546 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 14 Chromista, 13 Bacteria, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
Specimen of Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1898M. I. GunnNatick
A photograph of the species Acanthis flammea, not of this specimenAcanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758)1900ZAPPEY, W RROSLINDALE
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Agaricus brunnescens, not of this specimenAgaricus brunnescens Peck1900Morris, G. E.Waltham
A photograph of the species Alnus incana, not of this specimenAlnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen1900J. Murdoch, Jr.Roxbury

All 2,570 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 Eliot: 7 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 plant. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Tantalum. 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
Nrc Inc--Newton, Ma.Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium)Plant
Walpole QuarryStonePast Producer
Massachusetts Broken Stone CoStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
West Roxbury Crushed Stone OperatioStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Weston MineStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Burton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Greendale PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of NeedhamSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of WellesleySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex 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
Newton Upper Falls0.5 miles46
Newton Highlands0.7 miles46
Waban0.9 miles46
Newton Center1.1 miles46
Newton1.2 miles46
Thompsonville1.6 miles46
Woodland1.9 miles46
Newtonville2.2 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612310. 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.