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

West Parish, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Andover town. It lies in ZIP code area 01810. The Survey maps it on the Lawrence quadrangle.

West Parish within Essex County

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 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 Parish, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of West Parish, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 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

79 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 79 fires within 5 miles of West Parish between 2002 and 2020, burning about 23 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 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 burning16
Smoking16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined15
Misuse of fire by a minor9
Recreation and ceremony7
Arson/incendiarism5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Natural1

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
24 September 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2020Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNORTH ANDOVER
8 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAWERANCE
8 August 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAWERANCE
20 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLAWERANCE
17 August 2002Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
14 August 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,588 shown

Museums hold 1,588 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Parish between 1816 and 1975: 738 Animalia, 712 Plantae, 120 Fungi, 5 Protozoa, 5 Bacteria, 4 Unrecorded, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E Preble, A S Gaunt, 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
Specimen of Corylus americana WalterCorylus americana Walter1900E. F. Williams
Specimen of Populus grandidentata Michx.Populus grandidentata Michx.1900E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Lupinus L., not of this specimenLupinus L.1816Boott, F.M.B.Mystic Pond, 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Viola labradorica, not of this specimenViola labradorica Schrank1816not recordedAndover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1822ALCOTT
A photograph of the species Arcyria oerstedii, not of this specimenArcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 18751826F. A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Eleocharis robbinsii, not of this specimenEleocharis robbinsii Oakes1829B. D. Greene
A photograph of the species Microspora stagnorum, not of this specimenMicrospora stagnorum (Kütz.) Lagerh.1848Collector unknownon willow trees, Willow[?] Road
A photograph of the species Carex debilis, not of this specimenCarex debilis var. rudgei L.H.Bailey1853Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex rostrata, not of this specimenCarex rostrata Stokes1853W. Boott
A photograph of the species Cyathus striatus, not of this specimenCyathus striatus Willd.1853not recordedAndover, Mass. [Massachusetts]
A photograph of the species Dichelyma capillaceum, not of this specimenDichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin1853T. P. James

All 1,588 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of West Parish: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper, Perlite. 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
Dracut Ni Mine/Nickel Mine HillNickel, Gold, Silver, CopperPast Producer
Wittemore Perlite PlantPerlitePlant
Brox QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
George Brox IncStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Rocco Zambino and Sons, Inc. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sand & Gravel OperationSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex 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
West Andover1.5 miles38
Haggetts1.7 miles38
Shawsheen Heights1.7 miles38
Mount Vernon Park2.0 miles38
Shawsheen Village2.4 miles38
Andover2.7 miles38
South Lawrence2.9 miles38
Ballardvale2.9 miles38

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617269. 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.