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

Royalston, Massachusetts

36 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Royalston town. It lies in ZIP code area 01368. It stands on Frye Hill. The Survey maps it on the Royalston quadrangle.

Royalston within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Royalston, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Royalston, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

36 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

9 since 2010

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Royalston between 2010 and 2020, burning about 4 acres in total. 1 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 burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Fireworks1
Smoking1
Natural1

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
22 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 September 2010Naturalunder an acreNew Hampshire Division of Forest and Landsnot named
10 August 2020Fireworks1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlTULLY MT FIRE
23 June 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
10 April 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 357 shown

Museums hold 357 specimens collected within 10 miles of Royalston between 1856 and 1974: 168 Plantae, 132 Animalia, 57 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A., A. Morse, A. P. Morse 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 Osmunda regalis L.Osmunda regalis L.1900Bates, J.A.Royalston.
A photograph of the species Pyxine sorediata, not of this specimenPyxine sorediata (Ach.) Mont.1856Charles C. Frost
A photograph of the species Veronica L., not of this specimenVeronica L.1871not recorded
A photograph of the species Drosera rotundifolia, not of this specimenDrosera rotundifolia L.1882not recorded
A photograph of the species Linnaea borealis, not of this specimenLinnaea borealis subsp. longiflora (Torrey) Hultén1882not recorded
A photograph of the species Moneses uniflora, not of this specimenMoneses uniflora (L.) A.Gray1882M. A. M.Winchendon
A photograph of the species Polygala paucifolia, not of this specimenPolygala paucifolia Willd.1882M. A. M.
A photograph of the species Utricularia vulgaris, not of this specimenUtricularia vulgaris subsp. macrorhiza (Leconte) Clausen1886M., K. M.
A photograph of the species Vaccinium macrocarpon, not of this specimenVaccinium macrocarpon Aiton1886not recorded
A photograph of the species Peltandra virginica, not of this specimenPeltandra virginica (L.) Schott1892A.
Rosa rubiginosa L.1892not recorded
Carex scoparia Schkuhr ex Willd.1896W. Deane

All 357 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Royalston: 3 past producers, 3 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Mica, Talc-Soapstone, Mica, Feldspar, 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
Beryl Hill Mica QuarriesMica, FeldsparOccurrenceFeldspar, Mica
Beryl Hill Mica QuarriesMica, FeldsparPast Producer
Sibley Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Talc QuarryTalc-SoapstoneProducerMetamorphic
Talc QuarryTalc-SoapstonePast Producer
South Royalston Mica MineMicaOccurrenceMica
South Royalston Mica MineMicaOccurrence

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

8 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Royalston in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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
July 2008Thunderstorm WindRoyalston$5,000Trees on Route 32 were downed by thunderstorm winds, blocking the road.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindWest Royalston$800In Royalston, a large branch was down on wires on Athol-Richmond Road and a tree was down on Warwick Road.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindSouth Royalston$800In Phillipston, a tree and wires were down on School House Road.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindRoyalston$500In Royalston, there were multiple trees downed.
March 2022Thunderstorm WindSouth Royalston$300In Templeton, power lines were downed (from wind) on Route 68.
August 2015HailRoyalston-no account filed
August 2000Heavy RainRoyalston-no account filed
May 1998HailRoyalston-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Worcester 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
Camp Caravan3.0 miles36
Neale Place3.1 miles36
West Royalston3.3 miles36
South Royalston3.9 miles36
Fryeville4.0 miles36
Baptist Corners4.6 miles34
Parkers Station4.7 miles36
Pinedale5.2 miles32

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609707. 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.