Reading Highlands, Massachusetts
40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Reading town. It lies in ZIP code area 01867. It lies near Long Woods Hills. The Survey maps it on the Reading quadrangle.
Then and now
1886 to 1988The 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.


On record in Reading Highlands
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 12 of 63 shown
The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.
Jacob Manning Houselisted 1984 · 0.0 miles away
House at 129 High Streetlisted 1984 · 0.1 miles away
Highland Schoollisted 1984 · 0.1 miles away
House at 16 Mineral Streetlisted 1984 · 0.1 miles away
Temple, Joseph, Houselisted 1984 · 0.2 miles away
Wendell Bancroft Houselisted 1984 · 0.2 miles away
Carter Mansionlisted 1984 · 0.2 miles away
Joseph Bancroft Houselisted 1984 · 0.3 miles away
House at 44 Temple Streetlisted 1984 · 0.3 miles away
Kemp Barnlisted 1984 · 0.3 miles away
Brande Houselisted 1984 · 0.3 miles away
Woburn Street Historic Districtlisted 1985 · 0.3 miles away
Topographic sheets covering this place
18 surveys from 40 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.
- 1886 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:62500
- 1888 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:62500, 10 printings
- 1918 USGS Lawrence quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1943 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:125000
- 1944 USGS Reading quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Reading quadrangle1:24000
- 1951 USGS Reading quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1966 USGS Reading quadrangle1:25000
- 1966 USGS Reading quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Reading quadrangle1:25000
- 1984 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:100000
- 1987 USGS Reading quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Lowell quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
25,487 words on this townshipHistory of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880; History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, published 1880 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Reading Town covers the township.
Read the chapter on Reading Town - 25,487 words.
Fires near this place
59 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Reading Highlands between 2003 and 2020, burning about 25 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 | 17 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 14 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 15 September 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | LYNNFIELD |
| 4 August 2015 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | AMESBURY |
| 31 August 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 30 August 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | LYNNFIELD |
| 26 August 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 20 August 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | WINCHESTER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 952 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 952 specimens collected within 10 miles of Reading Highlands between 1898 and 1975: 411 Animalia, 362 Plantae, 154 Fungi, 11 Bacteria, 7 Unrecorded, 4 Chromista, 3 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Trientalis borealis Raf. | 1900 | A. P. Chute | |
| Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not. | 1898 | Collector unspecified | ||
![]() | Cantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr. | 1898 | not recorded | Melrose. |
![]() | Cladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber | 1898 | Francis P Daniels | Arlington Heights |
![]() | Cordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link | 1898 | Conant, [?] F. | Middlesex Fells |
![]() | Ctenidium malacodes Mitt. | 1898 | not recorded | |
![]() | Cucurbitaria elongata (Fr.) Grev. | 1898 | J. G. Hall | |
![]() | Aphanochaete repens A.Braun | 1900 | F. S. Collins | Middlesex Fells, Wright's Pond, on Oedogonium, etc. |
![]() | Batrachospermum gelatinosum (L.) DC. | 1900 | F. S. Collins | on stones in stream |
![]() | Batrachospermum moniliforme Sirodot | 1900 | F. S. Collins | on stones in stream |
![]() | Betula alleghaniensis Britton | 1900 | E. F. Williams | |
![]() | Bremia lactucae Regel | 1900 | Seymour, A. B. | Belmont |
All 952 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Reading Highlands: 8 past producers, 4 producers, 3 plants, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Titanium, Iron. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma. | Iron | Plant | ||
| Ferro Ceramic Grinding--Wakefield | Silica | Plant | ||
| Heffron Asphalt Corp | Titanium, Metal | Past Producer | ||
| Dynamet Tech--Burlington, Ma. | Titanium | Plant | ||
| Heffron Asphalt Co--Wilmington, Ma. | Titanium | Past Producer | ||
| Marlborough Plant/Polishing Plates | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| North Wilmington Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Roma Stone Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Acme Concrete Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Benevento Sand and Gravel | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 0.9 miles | 40 | |
| Mishawum | 2.2 miles | 41 | |
| Walnut Hill | 2.2 miles | 46 | |
| Farm Hill | 2.4 miles | 46 | |
| Wakefield | 2.4 miles | 40 | |
| South Wilmington | 2.4 miles | 41 | |
| North Woburn | 2.7 miles | 41 | |
| West Village | 2.9 miles | 40 |
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 Q122590040 | 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 612809. 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.




























