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

Westville, Massachusetts

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1987. It stands in Taunton City. It lies in ZIP code area 02780. It stands on Fall Brook. The Survey maps it on the Norton quadrangle.

Westville within Bristol County

Then and now

1885 to 1987

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 Westville, surveyed 1987

Topographic sheet of Westville, surveyed 1885

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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Taunton city, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 - Taunton City

The Weather

How all the people are enjoying this nice weather we are having! Real summer weather. But to the farmers, or some in certain lines of farming, this moderate weather is "not so good." These premature samples of springtime are unfortunate, especially for the peach orchardist. As every groWar knows, peach trees are susceptible to cold weather, and if it does grow very cold again, and there is every likelihood of it, there will be much wood killed and a very small fruit yield in our section this coming season.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

195,005 words on this township

History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 names this settlement in its chapter on Taunton City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Although the immediate objects were accomplished, the parish was so weakened by the then general business depression that Father Shahan did not attempt to carry out a project which he had very much at heart, - the establishment of a parish school ; and having been called to Boston in 1871, the Rev. Edward J. Sheridan, the present pastor, was sent to fill the vacancy. A vigorous effort is now being made in the parish towards the attainment of the latter object, the school to be placed under the charge of one of the religious orders which have proved so efficient elsewhere, not only in imparting secular knowledge, but in so cultivating the moral and religious nature of their pupils as to exert a permanent influence for good on their lives and conduct.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

During the pastorate of Father Hearae his mission, besides Taunton proper, included East Taunton, Middleborough, Norton, Westville, North and South Dighton. During Father Shahan's, Middleborough and Norton were separated from the Taunton parish, and during Father Sheridan's, Weir Village, East Taunton, and Dighton have also been detached, the Rev. Hugh J. Smyth having v been appointed the first pastor, succeeded by the Rev. James K. Beaven, the present incumbent, and a school-house having been adapted to the purpose of a church for the congregation. Recently the Rev. James Roach has been performing mission duty among the French and other residents in Whittenton, with the ultimate intention of erecting a church, but at the present writing no territorial boundaries have been assigned him.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

In 1771 the iron-works came into the possession of Hon. Josiah Dean, who converted them into a rolling and nail works, where copper bolts for ship-building were rolled and made. Mr. Dean died in 1818, when his son, Eliab B. Dean, succeeded to the business. In' 1825 Mr. Dean changed the works into an anchor forge, which were continued in that line of business by him and his successor and son, Theodore Dean, about forty years, when the works were abandoned. The privilege, which is a valuable one, alone remains of the ancient iron-works of Taunton of two hundred years ago, the oldest successful bar-iron manufactory in the country.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Taunton City - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Fires near this place

57 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 57 fires within 5 miles of Westville between 2004 and 2020, burning about 45 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	27
Debris and open burning	14
Smoking	7
Recreation and ceremony	3
Fireworks	2
Arson/incendiarism	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Equipment and vehicle use	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 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
16 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
6 August 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.5 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 August 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
11 August 2020	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
10 August 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
10 August 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bristol County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 887 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 887 specimens collected within 10 miles of Westville between 1844 and 1975: 540 Animalia, 245 Plantae, 93 Fungi, 7 Chromista, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A E Schuyler, A. A. Eaton 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Calla palustris L.	1844	Thurber, G.
Chamaecrista fasciculata (Michx.) Greene	1846	not recorded
Apocynum cannabinum L.	1855	F. C. Seymour	Rehoboth
Astur Lacepède, 1799	1860	C. D. Lincoln	Taunton
Carex panicea L.	1863	J. H. Dean
Carex L.	1864	J. H. Dean	Taunton.
Carex vulpinoidea Michx.	1864	J. H. Dean
Hypoxis hirsuta (L.) Coville	1874	not recorded
Chelidonium majus L.	1875	not recorded
Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.	1875	not recorded
Berberis vulgaris L.	1876	not recorded
Empidonax minimus (W.M.Baird & S.F.Baird, 1843)	1877	C.P. Snow	Taunton, North

All 887 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Westville: 4 producers, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Taunton Plant	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
King Trucking Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Landfill Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Mc Cabe Sand and Gravel Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Mccabe Sand & Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Mccabe Sand and Gravel Company Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Raynham Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Bristol 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
North Dighton	1.6 miles	34
Oakland	1.7 miles	33
Wades Corner	1.8 miles	33
Whittenton Junction	2.4 miles	33
Taunton	2.6 miles	33
Weir Village	2.7 miles	33
Britanniaville	2.7 miles	33
Whittenton	3.5 miles	33

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612547. 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.