West Harwich, Massachusetts
31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Harwich town. It lies in ZIP code area 02671. It stands on Herring River. The Survey maps it on the Harwich quadrangle.
Then and now
1887 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
31 sheetsMatched 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.
- 1887 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1889 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Yarmouth quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Cape Cod Bay quadrangle1:125000
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1957 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1963 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1974 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Harwich quadrangle1:25000
- 1986 USGS New Bedford quadrangle1:100000
- 1994 USGS New Bedford quadrangle1:100000
Fires nearby
73 since 2007The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 73 fires within 5 miles of West Harwich between 2007 and 2020, burning about 18 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 4 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 26 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 20 September 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 19 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 16 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 6 August 2020 | Fireworks | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected nearby
12 of 2,685 shownMuseums hold 2,685 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Harwich between 1840 and 1975: 1,499 Animalia, 878 Plantae, 244 Fungi, 36 Chromista, 22 Unrecorded, 5 Bacteria, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. Pealey, A. R. Hodgdon 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Uromyces lespedezae-procumbentis (Schwein.) Lagerh. | 1900 | A. B. Seymour | Hyannis |
![]() | Carya tomentosa (Lam.) Nutt. | 1840 | Collector unspecified | |
![]() | Calidris alba (Pallas, 1764) | 1866 | not recorded | Cape Cod |
![]() | Alosa mediocris (Mitchill, 1814) | 1871 | MCZ team | Brewster, Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
![]() | Bittiolum alternatum (Say, 1822) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Buccinum undatum Linnaeus, 1758 | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
| Gastropoda | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod | |
![]() | Helix Linnaeus, 1758 | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Hydrobia minuta (Totten, 1834) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Lacuna vincta (Montagu, 1803) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Littorina littorea (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
![]() | Littorina rudis (Maton, 1797) | 1872 | Smith, S. I.; Harger, O., U.S. Fish Commission | Cape Cod |
All 2,685 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
1 within 5 milesThe federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of West Harwich: 1 past producer. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickerson T W Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms nearby
1 since 2014The National Weather Service names West Harwich in 1 storm report between 2014 and 2014: 1 hail. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2014 | Hail | West Harwich | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Port | 0.9 miles | 31 | |
| Harwich Port | 2.0 miles | 31 | |
| North Harwich | 2.0 miles | 31 | |
| Harwich | 2.5 miles | 31 | |
| South Dennis | 2.7 miles | 31 | |
| West Dennis | 3.0 miles | 31 | |
| South Yarmouth | 3.6 miles | 31 | |
| Pleasant Lake | 3.7 miles | 31 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 616014. 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.









































