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

Norfolk, Massachusetts

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Norfolk town. It lies in ZIP code area 02056. It stands on Stony Brook. The Survey maps it on the Wrentham quadrangle.

Norfolk within Norfolk County

Then and now

1887 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Norfolk, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Norfolk, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

39 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Norfolk town, in the words of 1884.

1884, Norfolk Town

David S. Coolidge

He comes of early Colonial ancestry, being a lineal descendant in the eighth generation of John Coolidge, an early English immigrant, who was made a freeman at VVatertown, Middlesex County, this State, in 1636. Simon Coolidge, son of John, was the father of Obadiah and the grandfather of Joseph Coolidge, who was killed at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775.

Read the rest of this passage

Photographs

8 photographs,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

General Dynamics Corporation Shipyard, Apprentice School, 97 East Howard Street, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Edison Electric Illuminating Company, Charles L. Edgar Station, Bridge Street at Fore River, Weymouth, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Daniel Vose House, 1370 Canton Avenue (moved from 38 Adams Street), Milton, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Caryl Parsonage, Dedham Street, Dover, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Milestones H, I, CCC, DDD & EEE, Various Quincy locations, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

General Dynamics Corporation Shipyard, Outfitting Pier No. 2, 97 East Howard Street, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Cochituate Aqueduct, Brookline Reservoir Gatehouse, Boylston & Warren Streets, Brookline, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Allin Congregational Church, High Street, Dedham, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

139 since 2007

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 139 fires within 5 miles of Norfolk between 2007 and 2020, burning about 58 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	53
Recreation and ceremony	49
Smoking	16
Debris and open burning	15
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Railroad operations and maintenance	2
Arson/incendiarism	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
25 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	MEDFIELD
23 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	SHARON
22 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
15 September 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	WRENTHAM
13 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	FRANKLIN
13 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	FRANKLIN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 4,083 shown

Museums hold 4,083 specimens collected within 10 miles of Norfolk between 1867 and 1975: 2,233 Animalia, 1,054 Fungi, 647 Plantae, 102 Protozoa, 22 Chromista, 20 Unrecorded, 5 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Herz, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 1831	1900	not recorded	Sherborn
Grammia arge Drury, 1773	1867	not recorded	Sherborn
Carex swanii (Fernald) Mack.	1870	Joseph Blake	Sharon
Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.	1870	Joseph Blake	Sharon
Chantransia hermannii (Roth) Desvaux	1870	F. W. Dewart
Trichophorum planifolium (Spreng.) Palla	1870	Joseph Blake	Sharon
Hamamelis virginiana L.	1871	T. Morong
Ranunculus trichophyllus Chaix	1871	Joseph Blake	Sharon
Operophtera bruceata (Hulst, 1886)	1873	not recorded	Sherborn
Gymnocarpium dryopteris (L.) Newman	1874	not recorded
Nitella tenuissima (Desv.) Kütz.	1874	Piper, S. M.
Thelypteris phegopteris (L.) Sloss.	1874	not recorded

All 4,083 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 22 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 22 workings within 5 miles of Norfolk: 10 past producers, 10 producers, 2 unknowns. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Bates Bros Quarry	Granite	Producer
Iron Mountain Mine	Iron	Past Producer
Needham Pit	Stone	Past Producer
Walpole Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Wrentham Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown
Wrentham Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Chestnut Street Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Dedham Pit & Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Dedham Sand and Gravel Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
J Colella and Son Inc	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms nearby

9 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Norfolk in 9 storm reports between 1996 and 2020: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 lightning. The reports record 7 injuries. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 1996	Lightning	Norfolk	7 hurt	no account filed
July 1998	Lightning	Norfolk	$100,000	no account filed
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Norfolk	$30,000	Trees on Myrtle and Holbrook Streets were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of these trees fell on a house on Myrtle Street.
February 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Norfolk	$15,000	Trees and wires throughout Norfolk were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Norfolk	$1,000	A large tree was reported down on power lines at an unspecified location in the town of Norfolk.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Norfolk	$500	In Norfolk, a tree was down on Cleveland Street.
July 2008	Hail	Norfolk	-	Penny to nickel size hail fell in a swath from Norfolk to Walpole.
June 1999	Hail	Norfolk	-	no account filed
July 1997	Hail	Norfolk	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Norfolk 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Highland Lake	0.9 miles	43
Campbells Station	1.6 miles	43
City Mills	1.7 miles	39
Rockville	2.3 miles	43
West Walpole	2.4 miles	43
Cedar Hill	2.4 miles	43
Pondville	2.7 miles	39
Acorn Terrace	3.0 miles	39

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612094. 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.