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Rakeville, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Bellingham town. It lies in ZIP code area 02019. It stands on Bungay Brook. The Survey maps it on the Franklin quadrangle.

Rakeville 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 Rakeville, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Rakeville, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

21 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

10,816 words on this township

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Bellingham Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

As crows previously became so far a nuisance as to demand a bounty, so this year a bounty of twentyfive cents was allowed on woodchucks. In November the town so far relented as to allow, for the first time, the leasing of the town hall for " public entertainments of a moral nature." In the same month, after an uninterrupted and persistent effort to choose a representative for the next year, the idea was finally abandoned, and no choice was made. The Charles River Railroad being agitated, and the town recognizing the benefit naturally derived from direct communication with Boston, resolved, in 1849, - fare of this town to have the Charles River Railroad extended to the State line, near the village of Woonsocket, in the State of Rhode Island, and the town in its co-operative capacity does most earnestly pray that the said railroad may be chartered agreeably to the report of the committee on railroads and canals which is now before the honorable Senate on its final passage, as the passage of the bill chartering said railroad would be the means of building it, and thus opening a communication by railroad to the inhabitants of Bellingham not only with Boston, but with Woonsocket and Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, and with the city of New York." tion was made for the town hall for a dance, and the town considered the request, as it '' Voted that the town let the town hall for all good and lawful dances." In 1856, Martin Rockwood was sent to the General Court, and during the next year Ruel F. Thayer In 1858, Horace Rockwood In 1858 our present tax collector came to light in the same official position _which he has held for a long term of years, with

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

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 Bellingham Town - it names this place 1 more 1 time.

Fires near this place

104 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 104 fires within 5 miles of Rakeville between 2003 and 2020, burning about 62 acres in total. None started naturally. 21 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/undetermined32
Arson/incendiarism21
Recreation and ceremony21
Debris and open burning17
Smoking7
Equipment and vehicle use3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreRhode Island Division of Forest Environmentnot named
25 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlPLAINVILLE
23 September 2015Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresRhode Island Division of Forest Environmentnot named
22 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.0 acresRhode Island Division of Forest Environmentnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.4 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlFRANKLIN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 182 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 182 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rakeville between 1843 and 1973: 89 Animalia, 72 Plantae, 19 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Herz, A. B. Seymour, A. R. Hodgdon 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
A photograph of the species Polygala paucifolia, not of this specimenPolygala paucifolia Willd.1843ShoreWoonsocket
A photograph of the species Nitella tenuissima, not of this specimenNitella tenuissima (Desv.) Kütz.1874Piper, S. M.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1875Collector unspecifiedNorfolk.
A photograph of the species Loxia curvirostra, not of this specimenLoxia curvirostra minor (C.L.Brehm, 1846)1877Charles A. HoughtonWest Medway
A photograph of the species Passerina cyanea, not of this specimenPasserina cyanea (Linnaeus, 1766)1877Charles A. HoughtonWest Medway
A photograph of the species Podiceps auritus, not of this specimenPodiceps auritus cornutus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1881Daniel DuncanWest Medway
A photograph of the species Acorus americanus, not of this specimenAcorus americanus (Raf.) Raf.1884Nathaniel T. KidderCharles River, above Medfield
A photograph of the species Gymnosporangium clavariiforme, not of this specimenGymnosporangium clavariiforme (Wulfen) DC.1885A. B. Seymour
A photograph of the species Isotria verticillata, not of this specimenIsotria verticillata (Muhl. ex Willd.) Raf.1885PufferBellingham
A photograph of the species Gymnosporangium nidus-avis, not of this specimenGymnosporangium nidus-avis Thaxt.1891A.B. Seymour
A photograph of the species Benthamidia florida, not of this specimenBenthamidia florida (L.) Spach1893not recorded
A photograph of the species Diaporthe Nitschke, not of this specimenDiaporthe Nitschke, 18701893E. A. Burt

All 182 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Rakeville: 11 past producers, 3 prospects, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold. 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
Copper HillMolybdenumOccurrenceChalcopyrite, Molybdenite, Scheelite
Copper Mine HillTungsten, Copper, Garnet, Molybdenum, IronOccurrenceMagnetite, Scheelite
Copper Mountain MineCopper, IronPast Producer
Five Star Mineral and Mining CoGoldPast Producer
Forte Brothers PitStoneProducer
Foster ProspectArsenic, Uranium, Thorium, REEProspect
Iron Mine HillIron, TitaniumProspect
Iron Mine Hill DepositIron, Titanium, Metal, VanadiumPast Producer
Manville QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Sneech Pond ProspectManganeseProspect

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
South Bellingham1.3 miles44
Crooks Corner1.4 miles44
Wadsworth2.7 miles44
West Wrentham2.8 miles44
Scott Hill Acres2.9 miles44
Maple Ridge3.5 miles44
Sheldonville4.2 miles44
Bellingham4.2 miles44

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 Q122569088The 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 611727. 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.