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

Third Cliff, Massachusetts

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Scituate town. It lies in ZIP code area 02066. It sits by Third Cliff. The Survey maps it on the Scituate quadrangle.

Third Cliff 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 Third Cliff, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Third Cliff, surveyed 1885

Compare 1885 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

39 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

80 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 80 fires within 5 miles of Third Cliff between 2015 and 2020, burning about 24 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 1 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 burning42
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Natural4
Smoking4
Recreation and ceremony4
Arson/incendiarism1

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
6 September 2020Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSCITUATE
23 September 2020Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSCITUATE
29 August 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNORWELL
27 August 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSCITUATE
21 August 2016Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSCITUATE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,193 shown

Museums hold 1,193 specimens collected within 10 miles of Third Cliff between 1836 and 1975: 449 Plantae, 446 Animalia, 145 Unrecorded, 98 Fungi, 49 Chromista, 6 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Loveridge, A. B. Seymour, A. C. Mathieson 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 Cyperus lupulinus, not of this specimenCyperus lupulinus subsp. macilentus (Fernald) Marcks1899E. F. Williams
Lolium multiflorum Lam.1899not recorded
A photograph of the species Penthorum sedoides, not of this specimenPenthorum sedoides L.1899E. F. Williams

All 1,193 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

3 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Third Cliff: 2 past producers, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Cherry Street Plant, MayflowerSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Marshfield Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Marshfield Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working 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
Rivermoor0.3 miles39
Second Cliff0.9 miles39
Scituate1.2 miles39
First Cliff1.4 miles39
Fourth Cliff1.5 miles39
Scituate Station1.6 miles39
Greenbush1.7 miles39
Little Bridge1.9 miles39

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 615424. 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.