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

Howe, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Middleton town. It lies in ZIP code area 01949. It stands on Boston Brook. The Survey maps it on the Salem quadrangle.

Howe within Essex 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 Howe, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Howe, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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

101 since 2003

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 101 fires within 5 miles of Howe between 2003 and 2020, burning about 312 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 burning24
Recreation and ceremony23
Smoking18
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Equipment and vehicle use7
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Fireworks3
Arson/incendiarism2
Other causes1

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 2007Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
6 September 2007Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
28 September 2019Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLYNNFIELD
13 September 2020Smoking1.2 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlDANVERS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 6,395 shown

Museums hold 6,395 specimens collected within 10 miles of Howe between 1800 and 1975: 2,652 Animalia, 2,366 Plantae, 935 Fungi, 176 Unrecorded, 164 Chromista, 92 Bacteria, 10 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A B. Proper, A E Preble, A. A. Eaton 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 Corylus americana WalterCorylus americana Walter1900E. F. Williams
Specimen of Populus grandidentata Michx.Populus grandidentata Michx.1900E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Rhodocollybia prolixa, not of this specimenRhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel.1800R. B. MackintoshPeabody
Erysiphaceae1803A. B. Seymour
A photograph of the species Viola labradorica, not of this specimenViola labradorica Schrank1816not recordedAndover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Brasenia schreberi, not of this specimenBrasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.1821not recordedPleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1822ALCOTT
A photograph of the species Arcyria oerstedii, not of this specimenArcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 18751826F. A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Potentilla anserina, not of this specimenPotentilla anserina L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Sisymbrium officinale, not of this specimenSisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.1840OakesIpswich

All 6,395 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

8 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Howe: 4 past producers, 2 producers, 2 plants. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Thorium, Tungsten. 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
Hale Engineering Co--Danvers, Ma.TungstenPlant
Harriman MineSulfurPast Producer
Thiokol Ventron Div--Danvers, Ma.ThoriumPlant
Camillieri Corp PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Donald Innis IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Danvers QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Essex Bituminous Concrete ProductsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast ProducerSedimentary
Peabody QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Essex 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
Middleton Colony0.4 miles42
Middleton1.0 miles40
Brigadoon Village1.1 miles40
Burleys Corner1.3 miles42
Hathorne1.4 miles42
South Middleton2.3 miles40
Beaver Brook (historical)2.4 miles42
Ferncroft2.4 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 614251. 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.