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

Sterling, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Sterling town. It lies in ZIP code area 01564. It stands on Kendall Hill. The Survey maps it on the Sterling quadrangle.

Sterling within Worcester County

Then and now

1885 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Sterling, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Sterling, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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

81 since 2004

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 81 fires within 5 miles of Sterling between 2004 and 2020, burning about 94 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 burning39
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Recreation and ceremony14
Smoking5
Arson/incendiarism3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
5 July 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 July 2016Debris and open burning3.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Recreation and ceremony8.0 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 771 shown

Museums hold 771 specimens collected within 10 miles of Sterling between 1848 and 1973: 370 Plantae, 276 Animalia, 115 Fungi, 4 Unrecorded, 4 Chromista, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. Ferrett, A. G. Chandler 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 Porella platyphylla (L.) Pfeiff.Porella platyphylla (L.) Pfeiff.1895James F. CollinsSouth spur, Mount Wachusett
Specimen of Athyrium filix-femina subsp. angustum (Willd.) R.T.ClausenAthyrium filix-femina subsp. angustum (Willd.) R.T.Clausen1900DavenportPine Hill; Medford
Specimen of Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1900Roscoe I. Giles
A photograph of the species Tamias striatus, not of this specimenTamias striatus lysteri (Richardson, 1829)1848L AgassizPARSONS ISLAND
A photograph of the species Hygrophorus coccineus, not of this specimenHygrophorus coccineus (Schaeff.) Fr.1856D. Murray; C. J. Sprague[Presumably Massachusetts]
A photograph of the species Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1859E S WheelerBERLIN
A photograph of the species Dryobates pubescens, not of this specimenDryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)1861not recordedBolton
A photograph of the species Clemmys insculpta, not of this specimenClemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 18351864Agassiz
A photograph of the species Carex foenea, not of this specimenCarex foenea Willd.1878W. BoottWachusett Mountain
A photograph of the species Bromus sterilis, not of this specimenBromus sterilis L.1879C. E. Faxon
A photograph of the species Merulius lacrymans, not of this specimenMerulius lacrymans (Wulfen) Schumach.1879Howes, A.Massachusetts
A photograph of the species Sibbaldiopsis tridentata, not of this specimenSibbaldiopsis tridentata (Aiton) Rydb.1879Bailey, W.W.summit of Mt. Wachusett

All 771 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 15 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Sterling: 9 past producers, 3 producers, 2 prospects, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Peat, Tungsten, 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
LeominsterLithium, TinOccurrence1824
Luciani ProspectTungstenProspect
Pandolf QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Sterling Peat CoPeatPast ProducerPeat
Sterling ProspectIron, ZincProspect
Baldarelli Bros. Sand & Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Baldarelli Brothers Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
John D PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Landfill PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

14 since 1993

The National Weather Service names Sterling in 14 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 7 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 flash flood. 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
September 2008Thunderstorm WindSterling$6,000Trees and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindSterling$5,000A tree was downed into a parking lot off of Route 62.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindSterling$5,000A tree on Newell Hill Road was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2009Flash FloodSterling$5,000Numerous streets were closed in Leominster, Sterling, and Fitchburg due to flooding. In Sterling, multiple roads were washed out and several homes were flooded. A car was stuck in flood waters on Shay Street in Fitchburg.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindWest Sterling$1,300In Princeton, trees and wires were down on Sterling Road near Town Farm Road.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindSterling$1,000At 3:25 PM EST, wind brought a tree down on Kendall Hill Road in Sterling.
September 2023HailSterling-In Sterling, there was 1 inch hail.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindSterling-A funnel was sighted by a police officer and shortly thereafter strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a large oak tree which in turn tore down wires and knocked out power to the southwest section of town.
August 2015HailSterling-no account filed
August 2014HailSterling-no account filed
May 2006HailSterling-no account filed
May 2006HailSterling-no account filed
July 2002HailSterling-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindSterling-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
Sterling Camp Grounds2.1 miles46
Sterling Junction2.4 miles46
Pratt Junction2.4 miles43
Moores Corners2.7 miles46
Ebenville3.1 miles43
West Sterling3.2 miles46
Oakdale3.7 miles46
South Lancaster3.9 miles43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610554. 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.