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

Union Chapel, Massachusetts

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in East Brookfield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01515. It stands on Stone Hill. The Survey maps it on the East Brookfield quadrangle. The federal gazetteer marks this settlement historical: it is no longer a populated place, though the surveys that recorded it still are.

Union Chapel within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Union Chapel (historical), surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Union Chapel (historical), surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

33 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

72 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 72 fires within 5 miles of Union Chapel (historical) between 2015 and 2020, burning about 50 acres in total. None 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
Debris and open burning24
Recreation and ceremony18
Smoking7
Equipment and vehicle use7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Arson/incendiarism6
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Railroad operations and maintenance2

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
2 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 August 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 July 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 July 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 June 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts 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 456 shown

Museums hold 456 specimens collected within 10 miles of Union Chapel (historical) between 1850 and 1975: 257 Plantae, 99 Fungi, 97 Animalia, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. F. Hill, H. St. John, G.S. Torrey, A. R. Hodgdon; L. B. Smith 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 Carex tenera var. teneraCarex tenera var. tenera1899R. M. Harper
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Adiantum pedatum, not of this specimenAdiantum pedatum L.1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Athyrium filix-femina, not of this specimenAthyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Dennstaedtia punctilobula, not of this specimenDennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) T.Moore1866Collector(s): Elizabeth Emerson Atwater; Preparator(s): Alex LorenzLeicester
A photograph of the species Uncinula salicis, not of this specimenUncinula salicis (DC.) G.Winter1880A.B. Seymour
Botrychium virginianum (L.) Sw.1881Daniel Cady EatonMassachusetts
A photograph of the species Cryptogramma stelleri, not of this specimenCryptogramma stelleri (S.G.Gmel.) Prantl1881Daniel Cady EatonMassachusetts
Nitella megacarpa (T.F.A.) R.D.W.1894G. E. SternLake Lashaway
A photograph of the species Cirsium muticum, not of this specimenCirsium muticum Michx.1897E. L. MorrisCharlton
A photograph of the species Juncus tenuis, not of this specimenJuncus tenuis Willd.1897E. L. MorrisCharlton
A photograph of the species Alyssum alyssoides, not of this specimenAlyssum alyssoides (L.) L.1899R. M. Harper

All 456 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

6 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Union Chapel (historical): 6 past producers. None of them 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
Highway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Kittredge PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lyford Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of SpencerSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Town of SturbridgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Vandale PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working 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
Mystic Grove1.7 miles33
Glen Grove2.5 miles42
South Spencer2.6 miles33
Glen Heights2.9 miles42
Charlton Depot3.0 miles42
Glen Grove Annex3.0 miles42
East Brookfield3.1 miles33
Charlton City3.6 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609856. 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.