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

Whitneys, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Sherborn town. It lies in ZIP code area 01770. It stands on Bare Hill. The Survey maps it on the Holliston quadrangle.

Whitneys within Middlesex County

Then and now

1887 to 1989

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 Whitneys, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Whitneys, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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.

In the 1908 county history

14,425 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Sherborn Town covers the township.

Read the chapter on Sherborn Town - 14,425 words.

Fires nearby

129 since 2016

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 129 fires within 5 miles of Whitneys between 2016 and 2020, burning about 50 acres in total. 3 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 burning59
Missing data/not specified/undetermined34
Power generation/transmission/distribution8
Recreation and ceremony8
Arson/incendiarism5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Natural3
Railroad operations and maintenance3
Fireworks2
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
8 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 September 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2018Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 September 2019Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2020Missing 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 1,070 shown

Museums hold 1,070 specimens collected within 10 miles of Whitneys between 1898 and 1975: 848 Animalia, 166 Plantae, 54 Fungi, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. L. Bosworth, A. M. Ottley 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 Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 18221900not recordedWayland
A photograph of the species Actaea pachypoda, not of this specimenActaea pachypoda Elliott1898Ernest Charles Smith
A photograph of the species Antennaria howellii, not of this specimenAntennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer1898Williams, E.F.
A photograph of the species Antennaria parlinii, not of this specimenAntennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Antennaria plantaginifolia, not of this specimenAntennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1898M. I. GunnNatick
A photograph of the species Agonopterix atrodorsella, not of this specimenAgonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 18631900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Apantesis Walker, not of this specimenApantesis Walker, 18551900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Apatelodes torrefacta, not of this specimenApatelodes torrefacta J.E.Smith, 17971900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Archips cerasivorana, not of this specimenArchips cerasivorana (Fitch, 1856)1900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Bleptina caradrinalis, not of this specimenBleptina caradrinalis Guenée, 18541900E. J. SmithSherborn
A photograph of the species Boletus auriporus, not of this specimenBoletus auriporus Peck1900G. E. Morris

All 1,070 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 21 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Whitneys: 15 past producers, 3 producers, 3 plants. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron. 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
Hawkridge Bros--Ashland, Ma.IronPlant
Ashland QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Holliston PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Simeone Stone CorpGranitePast ProducerGranite
Trimount Bituminous ProdGranitePast ProducerGranite
Ashland PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
Ashland PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ashland Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Finn Brothers Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Garbarino Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms nearby

2 since 2019

The National Weather Service names Whitneys in 2 storm reports between 2019 and 2023: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
July 2019Thunderstorm WindWhitneys$750In Holliston, a tree was down on power lines on Ashland Street.
August 2023FloodWhitneys-In Holliston, there was extensive flooding on Concord St (Rtd 126) at Ashland St.

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
Gooch Corners1.4 miles41
Workmans Circle Camp1.7 miles41
Sherborn1.9 miles43
East Holliston2.1 miles41
Coburnville2.7 miles40
Framingham2.7 miles40
Holliston2.9 miles41
South Sherborn3.0 miles43

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122573040The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611747. 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.