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

Grafton, Massachusetts

45 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Grafton town. It lies in ZIP code area 01519. It stands on Pigeon Hill. The Survey maps it on the Grafton quadrangle.

Grafton within Worcester County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Grafton, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Grafton, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

45 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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Wyman-Gordon Company, Grafton Plant, Sack 2,000-Ton Forging Press, 244 Worcester Street, Grafton, Worcester County, MA
Wyman-Gordon Company, Grafton Plant, Sack 2,000-Ton Forging Press, 244 Worcester Street, Grafton, Worcester County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

64 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 64 fires within 5 miles of Grafton between 2002 and 2020, burning about 36 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 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 burning21
Recreation and ceremony10
Smoking10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Power generation/transmission/distribution6
Railroad operations and maintenance5
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Arson/incendiarism2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 August 2020Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 August 2020Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 July 2015Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 July 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,580 shown

Museums hold 1,580 specimens collected within 10 miles of Grafton between 1839 and 1975: 946 Plantae, 376 Animalia, 226 Fungi, 14 Unrecorded, 14 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.Chilonectria coryli (Fuckel) Ellis & Everh.1896Henderson
Specimen of Coryneum pulvinatum KunzeCoryneum pulvinatum Kunze1897D. Murray
Specimen of Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) LyonSceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon1899H. H. Scudder
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia tartarea, not of this specimenOchrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.1839E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Trichophorum planifolium, not of this specimenTrichophorum planifolium (Spreng.) Palla1844Collector unspecifiedUxbridge
A photograph of the species Mycobilimbia hypnorum, not of this specimenMycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner1848E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Potamogeton epihydrus, not of this specimenPotamogeton epihydrus Raf.1848J. W. RobbinsUxbridge
A photograph of the species Geranium maculatum, not of this specimenGeranium maculatum L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Packera aurea, not of this specimenPackera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve1850not recorded
Elymus repens (L.) Gould1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.

All 1,580 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 16 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Grafton: 9 past producers, 5 producers, 1 unknown, 1 plant. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Titanium, Metal. 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
Worcester B Plant TiTitanium, MetalPlant
30 Southwest Cutoff PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
A H Marando and SonsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Armour PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Bannister PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Boston Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
De Gaetano Brothers IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
DefalcoSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Defalco Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Grafton PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

13 since 1995

The National Weather Service names Grafton in 13 storm reports between 1995 and 2017: 7 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2009HailGrafton$40,000Two inch diameter hail fell in Grafton damaging screens and vinyl shutters on the west side of one house. On Route 122A, hail covered the ground, making the road slick, and broke car windows.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindGrafton$10,000Trees on Route 122 were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindGrafton$5,000no account filed
July 2017Thunderstorm WindGrafton$1,000At 1147 AM EST, a tree was brought down on Merriam Road in Grafton.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindGrafton$1,000A 10 inch diameter tree on Glen Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
May 2010HailGrafton-Penny to quarter size hail fell in a swath from Grafton to Sutton.
July 2009FloodGrafton-Lincoln and Cambridge Streets in Worcester were flooded with one to two feet of water. The intersection of Ward Street and Route 122 in Millbury was flooded with one and a half feet of water. In Grafton, Hayes Pond overflowed onto East Road spilling water onto the road up to four inches in depth.
August 2008HailGrafton-Penny to quarter sized hail fell in the northern part of Grafton.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindGrafton-Numerous trees down.
August 2014HailGrafton-no account filed
August 2008HailGrafton-no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindGrafton-no account filed
July 1995Thunderstorm WindNorth Grafton-no account filed

Every storm 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
Axtell Corner1.7 miles45
Kittville2.0 miles45
Saundersville2.0 miles45
Farnumsville2.1 miles45
North Grafton2.2 miles45
Fisherville2.2 miles45
Maplewood2.5 miles45
Wilkinsonville2.9 miles45

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611002. 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.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.