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

Howlands, Massachusetts

35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Rochester town. It lies in ZIP code area 02770. It stands on Cedar Swamp Brook. The Survey maps it on the Snipatuit Pond quadrangle.

Howlands within Plymouth County

Then and now

1885 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Howlands, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Howlands, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

35 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

39 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 39 fires within 5 miles of Howlands between 2015 and 2020, burning about 12 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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 burning17
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Recreation and ceremony2
Natural1

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
18 September 2016Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAKEVILLE
6 August 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 August 2020Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 August 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlPLYMOUTH
12 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 July 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 June 2020Missing 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 Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,741 shown

Museums hold 1,741 specimens collected within 10 miles of Howlands between 1855 and 1975: 957 Animalia, 446 Plantae, 302 Fungi, 21 Chromista, 10 Protozoa, 5 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Mathieson, A. Humes 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 Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1855Preparator(s): Edwin V. KomarekMiddleboro
A photograph of the species Microtus pennsylvanicus, not of this specimenMicrotus pennsylvanicus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)1855John W. JenksMiddleboro
A photograph of the species Peromyscus leucopus, not of this specimenPeromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818)1855John W. JenksMiddleboro
A photograph of the species Arethusa bulbosa, not of this specimenArethusa bulbosa L.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex comosa, not of this specimenCarex comosa Boott1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex crinita, not of this specimenCarex crinita Lam.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex folliculata, not of this specimenCarex folliculata L.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
Carex merritt-fernaldii Mack.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
A photograph of the species Carex virescens, not of this specimenCarex virescens Muhl. ex Willd.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
Cortinarius collinitus (Sow. ex Fr.) Fr.1899H. WebsterWareham
Epilobium latifolium L.1899J. Murdoch, Jr.Middleborough
Euspilotus conformis (J.E.LeConte, 1845)1899not recordedMarion

All 1,741 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

3 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Howlands: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Lakeville PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Southeastern Construction CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Whitehead Brothers IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

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
Bisbee Corner1.3 miles35
Cowen Corner2.0 miles35
South Middleboro2.1 miles35
North Rochester2.6 miles34
Camp Snipatuit2.6 miles35
Rock3.2 miles35
Douglas Corner3.2 miles35
Tremont4.0 miles35

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 Q122556642The 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 613524. 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.