BlockBefore

Montserrat, Massachusetts

40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Beverly City. It lies in ZIP code area 01915. It lies near Snake Hill. The Survey maps it on the Marblehead North quadrangle.

Montserrat 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 Montserrat, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Montserrat, surveyed 1888

On record in Montserrat

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 5 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

16 surveys from 40 printed 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 county-history sources

23,730 words on this township

History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888 names this settlement in its chapter on Beverly City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In 1874 Andrew K. Ober purchased a portion of the woodland known as Snake Hill, laying out drives and walks, and building there a stone mansion, which improvements were followed by the construction of Lake-shore Avenue, and the elegant station-building at Montserrat. Within ten years past radical changes have been made at Hospital Point, so that this bleak and once desolate promontory is now the abode of some of our wealthiest citizens.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

One of the largest land-owners, whose purchases have been made mainly within a few years past, is Henry W. Peabody, who owns about one hundred and fifty acres, principally near the Montserrat Station, and including such fine property as Hibbert and Laurel Pastures, Turtle and Prospect Hills. At the Farms, after the shore margin had been absorbed, summer residents purchased much of the hill property in the interior, especially wherever commanding views were afforded of the sea. Hence it is that, with Beverly's unrivaled possession of hillside and seaside, it is not necessary that land should be of great fertility to command high prices. In truth, the poorest land as to production is often that which is held the dearest.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

1886. - An electric fire-alarm was established in February, beginning in the manufacturing district, and extending thence into the outlying sections of the town. It started with ten boxes, two in the manufacturing centre, two on Cabot Street, and one each in the South, Washington, Cove, Montserrat, North Beverly and Farms Districts.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Beverly City.

Fires near this place

47 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 47 fires within 5 miles of Montserrat between 2015 and 2020, burning about 91 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Recreation and ceremony13
Debris and open burning13
Equipment and vehicle use6
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Arson/incendiarism1
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
5 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
4 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
27 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
8 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
4 August 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
3 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 7,644 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 7,644 specimens collected within 10 miles of Montserrat between 1800 and 1975: 2,767 Plantae, 2,300 Animalia, 1,314 Fungi, 639 Chromista, 445 Unrecorded, 114 Bacteria, 65 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A H HIGGINSON, A Perlmutter, 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
A photograph of the species Rhodocollybia prolixa, not of this specimenRhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel.1800R. B. MackintoshPeabody
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 Lecanora tartarea, not of this specimenLecanora tartarea (L.) Ach.1839E. TuckermanManchester
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia yasudae, not of this specimenOchrolechia yasudae Vainio1839Tuckerman, E.[USA] Manchester, Massachusetts.
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Iva frutescens, not of this specimenIva frutescens L.1840Oakesad 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
A photograph of the species Desmarestia viridis, not of this specimenDesmarestia viridis (O.F.Müll.) J.V.Lamour.1841C. E. PeaseMarblehead
A photograph of the species Splachnum ampullaceum, not of this specimenSplachnum ampullaceum Hedw.1843A. Gray; W. S. SullivantManchester

All 7,644 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Montserrat: 4 plants, 1 past producer. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Zirconium, Thorium, Tungsten, Mercury. 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
(Facility) Travers Labs Refinery--Beverly, Ma.Mercury, Silver, Gold, REEPlant
Hale Engineering Co--Danvers, Ma.TungstenPlant
Thiokol Ventron Div--Danvers, Ma.ThoriumPlant
Thiokol Ventron Div--Beverly, Ma.ZirconiumPlant
Ventron Corp--Beverly, Ma.ZirconiumPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms near this place

4 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Montserrat in 4 storm reports between 2015 and 2025: 2 lightning, 2 thunderstorm wind. 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
August 2022LightningMontserrat$10,000In Beverly, lightning caused a house fire on Boyles Street.
July 2015LightningMontserrat$5,000A house on Lakeshore Drive was struck by lightning setting fire to the roof.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindMontserrat$1,000In Beverly there were several trees down across town.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMontserrat$500In Beverly, a tree was down on Essex Street.

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
Beverly0.8 miles42
Beverly Cove0.9 miles40
North Beverly1.7 miles42
Rial Side1.8 miles42
Centerville1.8 miles40
Salem Neck2.0 miles40
Prides Crossing2.2 miles40
Wenham Neck2.4 miles40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617731. 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.