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

North Commons, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Quincy City. It lies in ZIP code area 02169. It stands on Mount Ararat. The Survey maps it on the Blue Hills quadrangle.

North Commons within Norfolk 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 North Commons, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of North Commons, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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

288 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 288 fires within 5 miles of North Commons between 2015 and 2020, burning about 161 acres in total. None 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
Recreation and ceremony196
Smoking41
Missing data/not specified/undetermined26
Debris and open burning20
Equipment and vehicle use2
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
5 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
5 September 2015Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
28 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 11,488 shown

Museums hold 11,488 specimens collected within 10 miles of North Commons between 1810 and 1975: 5,372 Plantae, 2,749 Fungi, 2,748 Animalia, 342 Chromista, 194 Protozoa, 53 Unrecorded, 30 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, A C Gibson 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 Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Limonium vulgare, not of this specimenLimonium vulgare Mill.1815not recordedOn Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Mollugo verticillata, not of this specimenMollugo verticillata L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Nuphar Sm., not of this specimenNuphar Sm.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Persicaria Mill., not of this specimenPersicaria (L.) Mill.1815Boott, J.W.Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Populus L., not of this specimenPopulus L.1815not recordedCambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus L., not of this specimenRanunculus L.1815not recordedThicket at South Boston.
A photograph of the species Salix L., not of this specimenSalix L.1815not recordedCambridge, 3 1/2 miles from Boston.

All 11,488 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

5 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of North Commons: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Old Colony Crushed StoneGranitePast ProducerGranite
Old Colony QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Braintree PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Liberty PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Town of WeymouthSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Quincy Center0.5 miles42
South Quincy0.7 miles42
Quincy0.8 miles46
West Quincy1.0 miles46
Wollaston1.2 miles46
Five Corners1.3 miles42
Merrymount1.5 miles41
East Milton1.6 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612971. 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.