BlockPakachoag, Massachusetts
44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Auburn town. It lies in ZIP code area 01501. It stands on Pakachoag Hill. The Survey maps it on the Worcester South quadrangle.
Then and now
1889 to 1989The 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.
On record in Pakachoag
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 3 records
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Goddard Rocket Launching SiteNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966 · 0.4 miles away
Malvern Road Schoollisted 1984 · 0.7 miles away
Christina Nelson Three-Deckerlisted 1990 · 1.0 miles away
Topographic sheets covering this place
20 surveys from 44 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1889 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1921 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1935 USGS Millbury quadrangle1:24000
- 1939 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:31680, 4 printings
- 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000
- 1948 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:31680
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1973 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000
- 1973 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:24000
- 1975 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000
- 1983 USGS Worcester South quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
5,419 words on this townshipHistory of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Auburn Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The surface is hilly, though without very high summits. The water-courses, trending northerly and easterly, join their channels to make the southern branch of the Blackstone River. These brooks and ponds are frequented by anglers, and three water privileges serve manufacturing uses and have for nearly a century. Pakachoag Hill extends two miles in the easterly part of Auburn, passing into Worcester, where it is crowned by the College of the Holy
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
September 17, 1674, Rev. John Eliot and his coadjutor, Major Daniel Gookin, visited Pakachoag (Lincoln's " History of Worcester" gives thirteen ways of spelling that name), preached and appointed civil officers among the Indians. John Speen, a Natick convert, had already preached and taught here two years. Gookin locates this Indian village seven miles from Ha.ssanamesit, - i. e., Grafton, - and three miles from the Connecticut Path, which led westward. That way ran just north of Lincoln Square, in Worcester. Wattasacompanum, as ruler among the Nipmucks, aided Eliot and Gookin. But next year the wily Philip seduced the natives from their loyalty to the English, when they burned deserted Quinsigamond, and were present at the Brookfield disaster. Wattasacomj)anum, or Captain Tom, as he is called, paid the penalty of his weakness at his execution on Boston Common. Matoonas, who had been chosen constable at Packachoag, met a similar fate.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
For seventy years and four generations the Drury family were important persons ; but none of the name are now resident. They owned a large estate, at one time two hundred and fifty acres, reaching from the church site well up on Pakachoag. Thomas Drury, the elder, probably came from Framingham. His name appears, in 1772, on the Worcester records among those eligible for jury duty. His grave-stone dates his death November 3, 1778, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His son, Lieut. Thomas, had gone forth with Captain Bigelow's minute-men on the Lexington alarm. He deeded to the town, in 1781, the land around the church, two and one-half acres ; improved the water-power, long known asDrury's Mills, and died, aged ninety-one, in 1836. His daughter.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Fires near this place
73 since 2015Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of Pakachoag between 2015 and 2020, burning about 56 acres in total. None started naturally. 6 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 burning | 25 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 14 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 26 August 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 13 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 6 July 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 5 June 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 1,639 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,639 specimens collected within 10 miles of Pakachoag between 1839 and 1974: 984 Plantae, 368 Animalia, 264 Fungi, 16 Unrecorded, 5 Protozoa, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, 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.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon | 1899 | H. H. Scudder | |
 | Ochrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal. | 1839 | E. Tuckerman | |
 | Carex laxiflora Lam. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
 | Carex vestita Willd. | 1840 | Thomas Nuttall | Cambridge. |
 | Mycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner | 1848 | E. Tuckerman | |
 | Cladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson | 1850 | J. L. Russell | Leicester |
 | Geranium maculatum L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Packera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Carex aperta Boott | 1853 | W. Boott | Massachusetts |
| Elymus repens (L.) Gould | 1892 | Arthur B. Seymour | Cambridge. | |
| Festuca pratensis Huds. | 1892 | Arthur B. Seymour | Cambridge. | |
| Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl. | 1892 | Clarence Kinney |
All 1,639 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 11 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Pakachoag: 8 past producers, 2 plants, 1 producer. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma. | Lead | Plant | ||
| Crucible Spec. Metals--Auburn, Ma. | Iron | Plant | ||
| 30 Southwest Cutoff Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Auburn Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Capa Corporation | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Crossover Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Donald P Graves Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Highway Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Lind Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Town of Auburn | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| College Hill | 0.6 miles | 44 | |
| Quinsigamond Village | 0.9 miles | 44 | |
| Woodland Park | 0.9 miles | 44 | |
| South Worcester | 1.3 miles | 44 | |
| Cambridge | 1.3 miles | 44 | |
| Vernon Hill | 1.5 miles | 44 | |
| Webster Square | 1.6 miles | 44 | |
| Heard Street | 1.6 miles | 44 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikidata item Q122566861 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610667. 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.