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

West Groton, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Groton town. It lies in ZIP code area 01450. It stands on Squannacook Hill. The Survey maps it on the Shirley quadrangle.

West Groton within Middlesex County

Then and now

1893 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 95 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of West Groton, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of West Groton, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

44 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

42 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of West Groton between 2015 and 2020, burning about 30 acres in total. None 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 burning21
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Recreation and ceremony4
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Smoking1

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
29 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Recreation and ceremony1.3 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlANDOVER
26 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
10 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 382 shown

Museums hold 382 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Groton between 1900 and 1975: 242 Animalia, 62 Protozoa, 44 Plantae, 29 Fungi, 4 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Gibson, A. F. Newton, A. F. Newton, M. K. Thayer 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 Pholiota carbonaria, not of this specimenPholiota carbonaria (Fr.) Singer1900H. WebsterGroton.
unnamed1926F.A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Anavitrinella pampinaria, not of this specimenAnavitrinella pampinaria (Guenée, 1857)1926not recordedLunenburg
A photograph of the species Arcyria cinerea, not of this specimenArcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers., 18011926Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Arcyria denudata, not of this specimenArcyria denudata (L.) Wettst., 18861926F.A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Alopecurus aequalis, not of this specimenAlopecurus aequalis Sobol.1930M. L. Fernald; C. A. Weatherby
A photograph of the species Cistothorus stellaris, not of this specimenCistothorus stellaris (J.F.Naumann, 1823)1930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Colaptes auratus, not of this specimenColaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 18981930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Epitheca cynosura, not of this specimenEpitheca cynosura (Say, 1840)1930Davis, E. M.MA, Middlesex Co., Shirley
A photograph of the species Hemaris thysbe, not of this specimenHemaris thysbe Fabricius, 17751930not recordedLunenburg
A photograph of the species Lanius ludovicianus, not of this specimenLanius ludovicianus migrans W.Palmer, 18981930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard
A photograph of the species Molothrus ater, not of this specimenMolothrus ater ater (Boddaert, 1783)1930Collector(s): James Lee PetersHarvard

All 382 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

5 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of West Groton: 5 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
Adams Excavating CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Harbor PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Hazen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Joy Contracting TcSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Shirley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

2 since 1996

The National Weather Service names West Groton in 2 storm reports between 1996 and 1996: 2 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
October 1996Flash FloodWest Groton-no account filed
October 1996Flash FloodWest Groton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Middlesex 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
Vose0.6 miles44
North Shirley1.7 miles44
Woodsville2.1 miles41
Paper Mill Village2.3 miles39
Shirley Center2.5 miles44
Groton2.8 miles41
South Pepperell2.8 miles39
Ayer3.6 miles41

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610815. 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.