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

Whitman, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Whitman town. It lies in ZIP code area 02382. It stands on Hobart Meadow. The Survey maps it on the Whitman quadrangle.

Whitman within Plymouth County

Then and now

1885 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Whitman, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Whitman, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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

447 since 2005

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 447 fires within 5 miles of Whitman between 2005 and 2020, burning about 191 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 7 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 burning217
Missing data/not specified/undetermined156
Misuse of fire by a minor34
Smoking16
Recreation and ceremony10
Arson/incendiarism7
Natural6
Fireworks1

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
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANSON
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
8 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANSON
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBROCKTON
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlABINGTON
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlHANOVER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Plymouth County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 682 shown

Museums hold 682 specimens collected within 10 miles of Whitman between 1851 and 1975: 274 Plantae, 244 Fungi, 150 Animalia, 12 Protozoa, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour, A. Clark 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 Hypnum curvifolium, not of this specimenHypnum curvifolium Hedw.1851W. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Lobaria pulmonaria, not of this specimenLobaria pulmonaria (L.) Hoffm.1851J. L. Russell
A photograph of the species Buellia alboatra, not of this specimenBuellia alboatra (Hoffm.) Th.Fr.1852Edward Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Biatora ochrophaea, not of this specimenBiatora ochrophaea Tuck.1853RussellHingham
Lecidea chloropolia Fr.1853J. L. RussellHingham
Opegrapha stictica (Durieu & Mont.) Nyl.1853J. L. RussellHingham
A photograph of the species Parmelia elegans, not of this specimenParmelia elegans (Link) Ach.1856not recordedHingham
A photograph of the species Chamberlainia salebrosa, not of this specimenChamberlainia salebrosa (Hoffm. ex F.Weber & D.Mohr) H.Rob.1857T. P. JamesRandolph
A photograph of the species Rhynchospora macrostachya, not of this specimenRhynchospora macrostachya Torr. ex A.Gray1870Booth, W.South Weymouth
A photograph of the species Dendroica petechia, not of this specimenDendroica petechia aestiva (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1899Arthur C. DykeBridgewater
Glyceria fluitans (L.) R.Br.1899E. F. Williams
Lysimachia quadrifolia L.1899E. F. Williams

All 682 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 Whitman: 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
Brockton PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
F T Read and SonsSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Gerald Kelleher Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Studley Pond PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Winter Street PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Plymouth County

Storms nearby

15 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Whitman in 15 storm reports between 1996 and 2021: 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 lightning, 2 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
June 2001LightningWhitman$32,000no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindWhitman$20,000no account filed
July 2012LightningWhitman$10,000Lightning struck a house on Pine Circle, setting it on fire.
April 2017FloodWhitman$5,000At 740 PM EST, flooding was reported at a home on Winter Street in Hanson.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindWhitman$5,000A large limb and wires were downed onto a car on Park Avenue.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindWhitman$5,000Trees, branches and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindWhitman$500A large limb in front of town hall was downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindWhitman$500A large tree limb on Temple Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2021HailWhitman-In Whitman, nickel size hail was reported.
May 2009FloodWhitman-Two feet of water was over the road near Route 18, rerouting cars. Also, a small brook overflowed its banks, flooding a backyard.
September 2011HailWhitman-no account filed
May 2009HailWhitman-no account filed
June 2000Thunderstorm WindWhitman-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindWhitman-no account filed
May 1996HailWhitman-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Plymouth 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
Winslow Estates1.2 miles37
Northville1.5 miles37
Rye Hill1.5 miles37
Auburnville1.7 miles37
Drumlin Farms1.7 miles37
Abington1.7 miles37
West Abington1.8 miles37
North Hanson2.5 miles37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613618. 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.