South Chatham, Massachusetts
31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Chatham town. It lies in ZIP code area 02659. It stands on Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harwich quadrangle.
Then and now
1887 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
31 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.
- 1887 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1889 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Cape Cod Bay quadrangle1:125000
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1963 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1986 USGS New Bedford quadrangle1:100000
- 1994 USGS New Bedford quadrangle1:100000
In the 1890 county history
50 words on this townshipThe county history of 1890 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Chatham Town covers the township.
Read the chapter on Chatham Town - 50 words.
Fires nearby
68 since 2003The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 68 fires within 5 miles of South Chatham between 2003 and 2020, burning about 20 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32 |
| Debris and open burning | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Fireworks | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | 1968 |
| 5 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | 1944 |
| 17 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 16 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 10 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | 1993 |
| 6 August 2020 | Fireworks | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 29 August 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected nearby
12 of 2,068 shownMuseums hold 2,068 specimens collected within 10 miles of South Chatham between 1840 and 1975: 1,052 Animalia, 787 Plantae, 175 Fungi, 34 Unrecorded, 12 Chromista, 7 Bacteria, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. Pealey, A. R. Hodgdon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Carya tomentosa (Lam.) Nutt. | 1840 | Collector unspecified | |
![]() | Alosa mediocris (Mitchill, 1814) | 1871 | MCZ team | Brewster, Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
![]() | Bittiolum alternatum (Say, 1822) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Buccinum undatum Linnaeus, 1758 | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
| Gastropoda | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod | |
![]() | Helix Linnaeus, 1758 | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Hydrobia minuta (Totten, 1834) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Lacuna vincta (Montagu, 1803) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Littorina littorea (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Littorina rudis (Maton, 1797) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Lunatia heros (Say, 1822) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Melampus bidentatus Say, 1822 | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
All 2,068 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
2 within 5 milesThe federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of South Chatham: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickerson T W Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Pine Hill Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Harwich | 1.1 miles | 31 | |
| East Harwich | 1.4 miles | 31 | |
| West Chatham | 1.8 miles | 34 | |
| Harwich | 2.8 miles | 31 | |
| Harwich Port | 3.0 miles | 31 | |
| Chatham Port | 3.3 miles | 34 | |
| Chatham | 3.4 miles | 34 | |
| Quitnesset | 3.7 miles | 34 |
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 Q135688910 | 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 615997. 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.









































