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

Rockland, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Rockland town. It lies in ZIP code area 02370. It stands on Ben Mann Brook. The Survey maps it on the Weymouth quadrangle.

Rockland within Plymouth County

Then and now

1885 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rockland, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Rockland, surveyed 1885

Compare 1885 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 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

395 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 395 fires within 5 miles of Rockland between 2015 and 2020, burning about 163 acres in total. 4 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 burning193
Missing data/not specified/undetermined119
Recreation and ceremony30
Smoking22
Misuse of fire by a minor21
Arson/incendiarism4
Natural4
Fireworks2

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
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER
7 September 2015Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,343 shown

Museums hold 1,343 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rockland between 1836 and 1975: 712 Plantae, 342 Fungi, 247 Animalia, 18 Chromista, 13 Protozoa, 9 Unrecorded, 2 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), 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
A photograph of the species Carex trisperma, not of this specimenCarex trisperma Dewey1836J. W. Robbins
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1844J. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Lopadium disciforme, not of this specimenLopadium disciforme (Flot.) Kullh.1848J. L. Russell
A photograph of the species Cladonia gracilis, not of this specimenCladonia gracilis (L.) Willd.1849J. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Spyridia filamentosa, not of this specimenSpyridia filamentosa (Wulfen) Harv.1849see Collection Note
A photograph of the species Frullania asagrayana, not of this specimenFrullania asagrayana Mont.1850J. L. Russell
A photograph of the species Hypnum curvifolium, not of this specimenHypnum curvifolium Hedw.1851W. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Lobaria pulmonaria, not of this specimenLobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm.1851J. L. Russell
A photograph of the species Ameiurus nebulosus, not of this specimenAmeiurus nebulosus (Lesueur, 1819)1852S. BairdHingham Massachusetts
A photograph of the species Cornus rugosa, not of this specimenCornus rugosa Lam.1899Nathaniel T. KidderBlue Hills Reservation, Slide Notch
A photograph of the species Cyperus lupulinus, not of this specimenCyperus lupulinus subsp. macilentus (Fernald) Marcks1899E. F. Williams
Glyceria fluitans (L.) R.Br.1899E. F. Williams

All 1,343 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 14 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Rockland: 9 past producers, 5 producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Bates Brothers Realty Trust QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bristol Pit & Plant LorussoStone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Bates Brothers Seam Face Granite CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Marshfield Sand and GravelGranitePast ProducerGranite
Plymouth QuarriesGranitePast ProducerGranite
Weymouth QuarryGraniteProducer
F T Read and SonsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
J F Price CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Plymouth QuarriesSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Price Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Plymouth County

Storms nearby

5 since 2002

The National Weather Service names Rockland in 5 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 3 hail, 1 lightning, 1 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 15 injuries. 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
June 2005LightningRockland15 hurtno account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindRockland$15,000no account filed
August 2025HailRockland-In Rockland, 1.5 inch hail fell.
August 2014HailRockland-no account filed
July 2002HailRockland-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
North Abington1.8 miles38
Hatherly1.9 miles38
West Hanover1.9 miles37
Abington2.4 miles37
Manns Corner2.7 miles38
North Hanover2.8 miles38
Fireworks3.0 miles37
Winslows Crossing3.0 miles37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613412. 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.