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

Giffords Corner, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Westport town. It lies in ZIP code area 02790. It stands on Bread and Cheese Brook. The Survey maps it on the Head of Westport quadrangle.

Giffords Corner within Bristol County

Then and now

1888 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Giffords Corner, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Giffords Corner, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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.

In the 1883 county history

119,038 words on this township

The county history of 1883 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Westport Town covers the township.

Read the chapter on Westport Town - 119,038 words.

Fires nearby

36 since 2001

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 36 fires within 5 miles of Giffords Corner between 2001 and 2020, burning about 38 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Arson/incendiarism7
Debris and open burning7
Recreation and ceremony3
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
23 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 August 2020Fireworksunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2018Fireworksunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bristol County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,721 shown

Museums hold 1,721 specimens collected within 10 miles of Giffords Corner between 1824 and 1975: 630 Animalia, 585 Fungi, 446 Plantae, 53 Chromista, 4 Unrecorded, 3 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Gridley, A. B. Hervey, A. Clark 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
A photograph of the species Gamochaeta purpurea, not of this specimenGamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera1824T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Lythrum salicaria, not of this specimenLythrum salicaria L.1831T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Mentha aquatica, not of this specimenMentha aquatica L.1831Collector unknownNew Bedford. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Trypethelium virens, not of this specimenTrypethelium virens Tuck.1848ex herb. OakesNew Bedford.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus bulbosus, not of this specimenRanunculus bulbosus L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Vitis labrusca, not of this specimenVitis labrusca L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Endocarpon pusillum, not of this specimenEndocarpon pusillum Hedw.1858H. WilleyFort Phoenix. Fairhaven.
A photograph of the species Carex spicata, not of this specimenCarex spicata Huds.1859Collector unspecifiedPortsmouth.
A photograph of the species Menegazzia terebrata, not of this specimenMenegazzia terebrata (Hoffm.) A.Massal.1860H. WilleyNew Bedford
A photograph of the species Pandion haliaetus, not of this specimenPandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758)1860Alan PooleWestport, Westport River, Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary
A photograph of the species Scolopax minor, not of this specimenScolopax minor J.F.Gmelin, 17891860Alan PooleWestport
A photograph of the species Abrothallus parmeliarum, not of this specimenAbrothallus parmeliarum (Sommerf.) Nyl., 18691862Willey H.Weymouth, New Bedford

All 1,721 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Giffords Corner: 7 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Clearwater Stone IncStonePast Producer
Tiverton QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Boan Farm PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Clearwater Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Dartmouth Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Louis Fernandez Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Medeiros Washed Sand & Stone PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pine Hill Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Westport DivisionSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Bristol 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
Head of Westport1.0 miles37
Brownell Corner1.2 miles31
Kirby Corner1.4 miles37
Sissons Corner1.5 miles37
Suburban Park1.7 miles31
Woods Corner1.9 miles37
Westport Factory2.0 miles31
Camp Noquochoke2.0 miles37

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122549988The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613212. 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.