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

Merrimac, Massachusetts

47 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Merrimac town. It lies in ZIP code area 01860. It stands on Turkey Hill. The Survey maps it on the Haverhill quadrangle.

Merrimac within Essex County

Then and now

1888 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Merrimac, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Merrimac, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

47 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

86 since 1992

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Merrimac between 1992 and 2020, burning about 58 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 burning17
Misuse of fire by a minor16
Equipment and vehicle use13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Recreation and ceremony10
Smoking5
Arson/incendiarism4
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Fireworks1

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
25 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHAVERHILL
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
17 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
15 September 1995Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Hampshire Division of Forest and Landsnot named
1 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 August 2002Recreation and ceremony3.0 acresNew Hampshire Division of Forest and Landsnot named
5 August 2016Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEST NEWBURY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,726 shown

Museums hold 1,726 specimens collected within 10 miles of Merrimac between 1800 and 1975: 1,113 Plantae, 484 Animalia, 66 Fungi, 54 Chromista, 5 Protozoa, 2 Unrecorded, 2 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A A Eaton, A Brown, 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 Hypnum curvifolium Hedw.Hypnum curvifolium Hedw.1900John W. Huntington
Specimen of Plagiotheciella latebricola (Schimp.) M.Fleisch.Plagiotheciella latebricola (Schimp.) M.Fleisch.1900John W. Huntington
A photograph of the species Rhodobryum roseum, not of this specimenRhodobryum roseum (Hedw.) Limpr.1800J. W. HuntingtonAmesbury
A photograph of the species Dichelyma capillaceum, not of this specimenDichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin1833J. W. Huntington
A photograph of the species Dumetella carolinensis, not of this specimenDumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)1833J.S. AppletonWest Newbury
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Dasya C.Agardh, not of this specimenDasya C.Agardh, 18241842Collector unknownLittle River near Old Town, 6 miles from the sea
A photograph of the species Dasya baillouviana, not of this specimenDasya baillouviana (Gmelin) Mont.1844N. Pikenear Old Town
A photograph of the species Campylium Mitt., not of this specimenCampylium (Sull.) Mitt.1851Marian Ropes Robertsonbetween Boston St. and Devil's Den
A photograph of the species Galium circaezans, not of this specimenGalium circaezans var. hypomalacum Fernald1857R. Mock
A photograph of the species Genista tinctoria, not of this specimenGenista tinctoria L.1857R. Mock
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia L.1857R. Mock

All 1,726 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 19 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Merrimac: 17 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. 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
Amesbury PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Buzzell PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
City of HaverhillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
East Broadway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Haverhill PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Haverhill Sand CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Haverhill Sand Company PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Heath PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Henry D Lay PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Lay PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

10 since 1994

The National Weather Service names Merrimac in 10 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 lightning. 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
February 2016Thunderstorm WindMerrimac$15,000Multiple trees on Harrimen and Hadley Roads in Merrimac were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015LightningMerrimac$15,000Lightning struck a house on Broad Street, causing a fire.
May 2013LightningMerrimac$10,000A house was struck by lightning on Church Street.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindMerrimac$10,000no account filed
May 2017Thunderstorm WindMerrimac$6,000At 942 PM EST, multiple trees were reported down on Prospect Street in Merrimac.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindMerrimac$500In Merrimac, a large tree was down on Lane Ten Acres Rd at Bear Hill Rd.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindMerrimac$500In Merrimac, a tree was down on Chase Crescent, just west of Route 110.
July 2021HailMerrimac-In Merrimac, broadcast media reported quarter size hail.
July 2010HailMerrimac-Quarter sized hail was reported in Merrimac.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindMerrimac-The local police reported trees blown down near the New Hampshire border.

Every storm 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
Merrimacport0.8 miles47
Rocks Village1.4 miles47
West Newbury2.1 miles47
Curzon Mill3.5 miles47
Amesbury4.3 miles47
Salisbury Point4.8 miles47
Highlandville4.9 miles47
Groveland5.1 miles47

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612633. 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.