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

Fort Hill, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Hingham town. It lies in ZIP code area 02043. It stands on Baker Hill. The Survey maps it on the Weymouth quadrangle.

Fort Hill within Plymouth County

Then and now

1885 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Fort Hill, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Fort Hill, surveyed 1885

Compare 1885 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 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

286 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 286 fires within 5 miles of Fort Hill between 2015 and 2020, burning about 113 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 burning101
Recreation and ceremony92
Missing data/not specified/undetermined50
Smoking25
Misuse of fire by a minor14
Fireworks2
Equipment and vehicle use1
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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
5 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
5 September 2015Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
4 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHINGHAM
3 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHINGHAM
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
28 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
27 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHINGHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 5,343 shown

Museums hold 5,343 specimens collected within 10 miles of Fort Hill between 1815 and 1975: 3,496 Plantae, 910 Animalia, 520 Fungi, 359 Chromista, 39 Unrecorded, 13 Protozoa, 6 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), A Loveridge, A Phelps Wyman 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 Pallavicinia lyellii (Hook.) GrayPallavicinia lyellii (Hook.) Gray1900Frad G. Floydedge of Tumble Pond, Stang Brook, Brook Reservation
A photograph of the species Ranunculus L., not of this specimenRanunculus L.1815not recordedThicket at South Boston.
A photograph of the species Cornus sericea, not of this specimenCornus sericea subsp. sericea1832Nathaniel T. KidderMilton, Brook Road
A photograph of the species Carex echinata, not of this specimenCarex echinata subsp. echinata1834not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex trisperma, not of this specimenCarex trisperma Dewey1836J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Salicornia bigelovii, not of this specimenSalicornia bigelovii Torr.1840Welle, J.Hull
A photograph of the species Salsola kali, not of this specimenSalsola kali L.1840Welle, J.Hull
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1844J. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Silene vulgaris, not of this specimenSilene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke1844not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex acutiformis, not of this specimenCarex acutiformis Ehrh.1847Boott, M.South Boston
Acer nigrum F.Michx.1899Nathaniel T. KidderMilton, off Randolph Avenue
Andrena braccata Viereck, 19071899P.G. BolsterMilton

All 5,343 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 17 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Fort Hill: 9 producers, 8 past producers. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite. 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
Bates Brothers Seam Face Granite CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Marshfield Sand and GravelGranitePast ProducerGranite
Plymouth QuarriesGranitePast ProducerGranite
Weymouth QuarryGraniteProducer
Bates Brothers Realty Trust QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bristol Pit & Plant LorussoStone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Ernest Minelli Inc QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hingham PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Margetts QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Braintree PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Plymouth 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
West Hingham0.0 miles38
Hingham0.8 miles38
Hingham Center1.3 miles38
Cole Corner1.4 miles38
Crow Point1.7 miles41
Nantasket Junction1.9 miles38
Tuttleville2.0 miles38
Finnville3.0 miles38

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617482. 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.