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South Georgetown, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Georgetown town. It lies in ZIP code area 01833. It lies near Redshanks Hill. The Survey maps it on the Georgetown quadrangle.

South Georgetown within Essex County

Then and now

1888 to 1997

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 South Georgetown, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of South Georgetown, surveyed 1888

On record in South Georgetown

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 2 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 41 printed 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.

In the county-history sources

43,933 words on this township

History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888 names this settlement in its chapter on Georgetown Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The topographical features of the town are first, the Baldpate as the most prominent elevation, extending in its foot hills nearly to Central Street on its western side, and includes the entire southwestern section of the town. It attains at its highest altitude about four hundred feet above the sea, with a broad, level tract at its northeast base, terminating sharply at Rock Pond. This hill was known as Baldpate (or including the hill in Boxford near by, known as Shaven-crown) as the Bald hills from early times. The divisional line between Baldpate and its neighbor is distinctly defined, extending over the town limits just beyond the boundary line. This is a well-watered country, Lake Raynorand a small pond at the head of Raynor with a swampy margin, both in Boxford, absorbing all of the several streams, coursing down the southern slope. The eastern water-shed is into the westerly branch of Pen Brook, while the northwestern flowing into Half-Moon Meadow reaches Parker River just westerly of Scrag Pond. The Uptake district, in the northwest, has its southern side only in Georgetown, quite precipitous and ragged. This district is principally in Groveland. Another hilly section west uf Pen Brook and east of Elm Street, separated from the Baldpate district by the plain at South Georgetown called in early times Fair-face, extends from a gentle upland at the northern end of this section, threefourths of a mile southerly, to an abrupt and peculiar termination, just in the rear of the residence of S. K. Herrick, anciently the home of Capt. Benj. Adams, designated formerly as "Tanner Adams." This is the " Red Shanks " locality, and has been known as such for at least one hundred and sixty years ; why it bears this name is difficult to conjecture, although it may have been from the color of the rock formation. East Street traverses a natural notch up the western slope of this district. This tract at its highest point is not far from two hundred feet above the ocean, and has such singular features, that experienced travellers and scientists as Profs. C. H. Hitchcock and J. H. Huntington have noticed and remarked its peculiarities.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

One fact seems api:)arent, that the earliest movement for a settlement of Georgetown, was east of Pen Brook, on Mr. Humphrey Nelson's farm, and in that locality on East Main Street. The upland along the Rocky hills, with the meadows southerly, was the first to be laid out. That extensive tract of meadow along Pen Brook to its source, had been explored at as early a date as cattle had been herded, and at some time prior to 1652, a grant was made to Elder Humphrey Rainer, of at least, most of the land from Lake Raynor for some distance down, and possibly nearly to the pen-land. All the deeds given in what is now South Georgetown as late as seventy-five years afterwards, which have as a boundary' these meadows along Pen Brook, describe these pieces of meadow as the " Elder's," or " Elder Rainer " meadow. It can be safely said that this worthy member of a family, noted in the early church annals of New England, was the first landholder in South Georgetown, and probably in the town.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

This piece of upland so early secured by Samuel Brocklebank, was situated easterly of Elm Street, extending southerly nearly to South Georgetown, the locality known at a later day as Fairface plain. The record says this land was bounded on the north by a highway, where cattle used to go over the brook to the pen land, laid out to Thomas Mighill ; the westerly side of the tract adjoined a highway leading to Andover; Pen Brook along the east, and extending unto Mr. H. Rainer's land. This Andover road was unquestionably at that time the way for Newbury and Rowley settlers to visit the Rowley Village (now Boxford) people, also the settlement on the Shawshin, then Andover.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Georgetown Town - it names this place 10 more 10 times.

Fires near this place

75 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 75 fires within 5 miles of South Georgetown between 2015 and 2020, burning about 35 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 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 burning24
Equipment and vehicle use13
Recreation and ceremony12
Arson/incendiarism9
Smoking6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Misuse of fire by a minor2

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 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlGROVELAND
28 September 2019Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 September 2020Smoking1.2 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2016Debris and open burning1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlGROVELAND
5 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBOXFORD

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,705 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,705 specimens collected within 10 miles of South Georgetown between 1816 and 1975: 1,135 Plantae, 946 Animalia, 560 Fungi, 34 Chromista, 14 Protozoa, 10 Unrecorded, 6 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Brown, A. A. Eaton, A. A. Eaton; R. G. Leavitt 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 Viola labradorica, not of this specimenViola labradorica Schrank1816not recordedAndover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Brasenia schreberi, not of this specimenBrasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.1821not recordedPleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1822ALCOTT
A photograph of the species Arcyria oerstedii, not of this specimenArcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 18751826F. A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Dumetella carolinensis, not of this specimenDumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)1833J.S. AppletonWest Newbury
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Clethra alnifolia, not of this specimenClethra alnifolia L.1840OakesHerbariumRowley
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Iva frutescens, not of this specimenIva frutescens L.1840Oakesad Ipswich
A photograph of the species Potentilla anserina, not of this specimenPotentilla anserina L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Sisymbrium officinale, not of this specimenSisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.1840OakesIpswich
A photograph of the species Dasya C.Agardh, not of this specimenDasya C.Agardh, 18241842Collector unknownLittle River near Old Town, 6 miles from the sea

All 2,705 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of South Georgetown: 8 past producers, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sulfur, Iron. 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
Georgetown MineIronPast Producer
Harriman MineSulfurPast Producer
Groveland PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Trimount Bituminous Prdts CoStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Center Street PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Peter H Arekalian QuarrySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Pines Speedway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
R W Drinkwater IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
The Pines PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Topseal PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex 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
Georgetown1.1 miles41
Marlboro1.1 miles41
East Boxford1.4 miles41
Kings Forest1.6 miles41
Rooty Plain2.2 miles41
Leightons Corner3.1 miles41
Boxford3.4 miles41
East Parish3.4 miles40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 614345. 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.