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

Morseville, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Natick town. It lies in ZIP code area 01760. It stands on Eliot Hill. The Survey maps it on the Natick quadrangle.

Morseville within Middlesex 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 Morseville, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Morseville, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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 1908 county history

21,769 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Natick Town covers the township.

Read the chapter on Natick Town - 21,769 words.

Fires nearby

109 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 109 fires within 5 miles of Morseville between 2015 and 2020, burning about 43 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 5 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined38
Debris and open burning33
Recreation and ceremony12
Power generation/transmission/distribution7
Arson/incendiarism5
Smoking4
Natural3
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Fireworks1
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
9 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 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 Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,446 shown

Museums hold 1,446 specimens collected within 10 miles of Morseville between 1898 and 1975: 1,040 Animalia, 200 Plantae, 198 Fungi, 4 Chromista, 4 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. E. Feldman 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 Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
A photograph of the species Actaea pachypoda, not of this specimenActaea pachypoda Elliott1898Ernest Charles Smith
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1898M. I. GunnNatick
A photograph of the species Agaricus brunnescens, not of this specimenAgaricus brunnescens Peck1900Morris, G. E.Waltham
A photograph of the species Agonopterix atrodorsella, not of this specimenAgonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 18631900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Alnus serrulata, not of this specimenAlnus serrulata (Aiton) Willd.1900J. Murdoch, Jr.West Roxbury
A photograph of the species Apantesis Walker, not of this specimenApantesis Walker, 18551900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Apatelodes torrefacta, not of this specimenApatelodes torrefacta J.E.Smith, 17971900E. J. SmithSherborn
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.1900Thaxter, RolandStony Brook, Mass. [Massachusetts]

All 1,446 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Morseville: 4 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Peat. 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
Hawkridge Bros--Ashland, Ma.IronPlant
Panlini Loam CoPeatPast ProducerPeat
Framington PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Hi-Way Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Holliston PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lowland PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Town of NatickSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex 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
South Natick1.7 miles46
Natick1.8 miles46
Sherborn2.0 miles43
West Natick2.4 miles40
South Sherborn2.5 miles43
Felchville2.9 miles46
North Natick3.1 miles46
East Natick3.3 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617732. 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.