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

Rochester, Massachusetts

35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Rochester town. It lies in ZIP code area 02770. It stands on Sherman Brook. The Survey maps it on the Marion quadrangle.

Rochester within Plymouth County

Then and now

1885 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rochester, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Rochester, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

35 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

45 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Rochester between 2015 and 2020, burning about 18 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
Debris and open burning25
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony1
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 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWAREHAM
3 August 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMATTAPOISETT
31 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMATTAPOISETT
3 July 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWAREHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,202 shown

Museums hold 2,202 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rochester between 1824 and 1975: 933 Animalia, 778 Fungi, 398 Plantae, 66 Chromista, 21 Bacteria, 6 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Mathieson, A. Clark, A. H. Moore 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 Gamochaeta purpurea, not of this specimenGamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera1824T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Lythrum salicaria, not of this specimenLythrum salicaria L.1831T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Mentha aquatica, not of this specimenMentha aquatica L.1831Collector unknownNew Bedford. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Trypethelium virens, not of this specimenTrypethelium virens Tuck.1848ex herb. OakesNew Bedford.
A photograph of the species Endocarpon pusillum, not of this specimenEndocarpon pusillum Hedw.1858H. WilleyFort Phoenix. Fairhaven.
A photograph of the species Chilomycterus geometricus, not of this specimenChilomycterus geometricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)1860unknownBuzzards Bay
A photograph of the species Menegazzia terebrata, not of this specimenMenegazzia terebrata (Hoffm.) A.Massal.1860H. WilleyNew Bedford
A photograph of the species Abrothallus parmeliarum, not of this specimenAbrothallus parmeliarum (Sommerf.) Nyl., 18691862Willey H.Weymouth, New Bedford
A photograph of the species Agyrium rufum, not of this specimenAgyrium rufum (Pers.) Fr.1862Willey HenryNew Bedford
Agapostemon sericeus (Förster, 1771)1899William WheelerNew Bedford
Cortinarius collinitus (Sow. ex Fr.) Fr.1899H. WebsterWareham
Euspilotus conformis (J.E.LeConte, 1845)1899not recordedMarion

All 2,202 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 Rochester: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Albert WintersSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Marion PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rochester PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Wareham PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Whitehead Brothers IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Plymouth County

Storms nearby

6 since 1997

The National Weather Service names Rochester in 6 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2014LightningRochester$300,000Lightning struck a tree 30 feet away from a house on Jason's Lane. The lightning traveled through the root system to the house, setting it on fire. The house was deemed a total loss.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindRochester$15,000Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds, including one on Robinson Road.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindRochester$15,000Trees on Marys Pond Road and Walnut Plain Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
February 2016Thunderstorm WindRochester$5,000Wires on Mary's Pond Road in Rochester were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindRochester$1,500In Mattapoisett, there were trees and wires down on North St around Eldorado Dr.
July 1997HailRochester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Plymouth 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
Sturtevant Mill2.1 miles35
Wolf Lake2.5 miles35
Cowen Corner2.8 miles35
Douglas Corner3.4 miles35
Camp Snipatuit3.6 miles35
Tinkhamtown3.7 miles35
Marion3.7 miles35
East Marion4.2 miles39

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 614863. 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.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.