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Pondville, 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 Stone Brook. The Survey maps it on the Worcester South quadrangle.

Pondville within Worcester County

Then and now

1889 to 1989

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Pondville, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Pondville, surveyed 1889

On record in Pondville

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 2 records

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

Topographic sheets covering this place

20 surveys from 44 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

5,419 words on this township

History 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.

Cross. From its broad plateau one gets a fine view of Stoneville, Leicester steeples on the western horizon, Millbury, Grafton and Shrewsbury, Mt. Asnebumskitand blue Wachusett. Grassy Hill bordersou West Millbury, Prospect Hill stretches from West Auburn across the Oxford line. Growl and Beer's Hills rise in the northwest corner. We find our Auburn not the "loveliest village of the plain." The population is fairly distributed, the factory precinct of Stoneville being the more thickly built up. Pondville lies east of the centre. The inhabitants generally are farmers whose great barns show the tons of hay produced and the quantity of stock raised. Towns adjacent have a larger territory and population, and, with the exception of Millbury, a more ancient record. Our history narrates the origin, the doings and the present condition of an average New England rural community.

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.

Read the whole chapter on Auburn Town.

Fires near this place

68 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 68 fires within 5 miles of Pondville between 2015 and 2020, burning about 54 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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 burning22
Recreation and ceremony15
Smoking13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Arson/incendiarism4
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
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
8 September 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 August 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 August 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 Worcester County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,554 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,554 specimens collected within 10 miles of Pondville between 1839 and 1974: 932 Plantae, 349 Animalia, 250 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) LyonSceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon1899H. H. Scudder
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia tartarea, not of this specimenOchrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.1839E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Mycobilimbia hypnorum, not of this specimenMycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner1848E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Geranium maculatum, not of this specimenGeranium maculatum L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Packera aurea, not of this specimenPackera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex aperta, not of this specimenCarex aperta Boott1853W. BoottMassachusetts
Elymus repens (L.) Gould1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Festuca pratensis Huds.1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Hepatica americana (DC.) Ker Gawl.1892Clarence Kinney

All 1,554 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 20 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Pondville: 10 past producers, 6 producers, 3 plants, 1 unknown. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Titanium, Metal, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma.LeadPlant
Crucible Spec. Metals--Auburn, Ma.IronPlant
Worcester B Plant TiTitanium, MetalPlant
30 Southwest Cutoff PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Auburn PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Crossover PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
DefalcoSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Defalco Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Donald P Graves Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Highway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester 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
Auburn0.8 miles44
Drury Square1.0 miles44
Stoneville1.9 miles44
West Millbury1.9 miles44
Old Common2.0 miles44
Pakachoag2.1 miles44
Woodland Park2.2 miles44
Heard Street2.6 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610673. 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.