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

Rock Island, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Quincy City. It lies in ZIP code area 02169. It stands on Raccoon Island. The Survey maps it on the Hull quadrangle.

Rock Island within Norfolk County

Then and now

1892 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rock Island, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Rock Island, surveyed 1892

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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

309 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 309 fires within 5 miles of Rock Island between 2015 and 2020, burning about 132 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 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
Recreation and ceremony168
Debris and open burning48
Smoking42
Missing data/not specified/undetermined40
Misuse of fire by a minor6
Equipment and vehicle use2
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism1

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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
5 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
5 September 2015Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
4 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHINGHAM
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWEYMOUTH
28 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 9,141 shown

Museums hold 9,141 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rock Island between 1810 and 1975: 4,966 Plantae, 2,354 Animalia, 1,305 Fungi, 373 Chromista, 70 Protozoa, 53 Unrecorded, 20 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), A C Gibson, A Loveridge 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 Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
Specimen of Reboulia hemisphaerica (L.) RaddiReboulia hemisphaerica (L.) Raddi1900Frad G. FloydWestern boundary Stony Brook Reservation
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Limonium vulgare, not of this specimenLimonium vulgare Mill.1815not recordedOn Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Mollugo verticillata, not of this specimenMollugo verticillata L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Persicaria Mill., not of this specimenPersicaria (L.) Mill.1815Boott, J.W.Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Populus L., not of this specimenPopulus L.1815not recordedCambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus L., not of this specimenRanunculus L.1815not recordedThicket at South Boston.
Cistaceae1816Boott, J.W.Boston.
Dianthus armeria L.1816Boott, J.Boston.

All 9,141 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

9 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Rock Island: 5 producers, 4 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Granite. 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
Old Colony Crushed StoneGranitePast ProducerGranite
Braintree PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Ernest Minelli Inc QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Hingham PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Liberty PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Margetts QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Old Colony QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
R D Margetts Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of WeymouthSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

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
Houghs Neck0.4 miles41
Germantown0.5 miles41
Post Island0.6 miles41
Adams Shore1.2 miles41
North Weymouth1.4 miles38
Quincy Neck1.5 miles38
Quincy Point1.6 miles38
Old Spain1.6 miles38

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 614141. 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.