Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Russian Cemetery
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
2005. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“At the Centre, one mile from the railroad, standi the large town-hall on Main Street, - a boildin; two stories high, with two large andience-roonts library, selectmen's room with safetT-ranlt attacfaei and all the conveniences belonging to modem st^l^ tures of its kind. Its cost, with the land, w about $ 10,000.”
History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1880). Machine-read text.
one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 2005 · category: Site · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
National Register reference number.05001324- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
The surface of the town is broken by numerous hills, the highest of which is Prospect Hill, about tJiree hundred feet above the level of Stony Brook. Others are known as Francis, Providence, Tadmuck, Bear, Sparks, Rattlesnake, Kissacook, Snake- Meadow, Conscience, Flushing, Oak, and Blake's, none of thein of any considerable ])rominence. The pretty little stream that meanders though the town is worthy of a more characteristic name than Stony Brook. Its charming valley below Westford Station appeals to the sense of beauty in every beholder. Several ponds in the north part sparkle in the sunlight of the long summer day. The largest, Nebunnussuck, half a mile from Brookside, has an area of 123 acres. It is much frequented by excursion parties from Lowell and elsewhere. Long-souglit-for Pond comes next, with an area of 107 acres; then Keyes, 40 acres; Bulge's, 25 acres; Flushing, 20 acres. That part of Forge Pond which lies in Westford comprises an area of 104 acres. The soil in the south and east parts of the town is good ; in the north part it is sandy.
When the struggle came, in 1775, the people of this town were among the first to leave their homes to drive back the British troops from Concord. In the fight at the North Bridge, April 19, Colonel John Robinson, of this town, stood by the side of Davis and Buttrick when the British advanced upon the Americans, and the first shot sent a ball under Colonel Robinson's arm. Dr. Ripley says that a company from Westford had just entered the bounds of Concord when the fight took place. The state archives in Boston show that two companies left Westford that morning for Concord, and although not present at the first skirmish, they joined in pursuit of the retreating foe, and did good service. The first company consisted of fifty-eight men, and was led by Captain Timothy Underwood. The other consisted of thirty-six men under Captain Oliver Bates. It is stated on good authority that Captain Bates received a wound that day from which he did not recover, but died JiJly 4, 1775. In Colonel Swett's list of companies in Colonel Prescott's regiment at tiie battle of Bunker Hill are the names of Joshua Parker, captain ; Amaziah Fassett, first lieutenant ; Thomas Rogers, second lieutenant. These were Westford men. This shows that the town jiarticipated in the first battle of the Revolution. One of her citizens, Joseph Minot, gave up his life in that battle.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Russian Cemetery between
2015 and 2020, burning about 32 acres in total. 1 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
Debris and open burning
24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
13
Recreation and ceremony
2
Railroad operations and maintenance
1
Natural
1
Arson/incendiarism
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 550 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Russian Cemetery between 1898 and
1975: 296 Animalia, 128 Plantae, 62 Protozoa, 58 Fungi, 3 Unrecorded, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson, A. F. Newton 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
23 workings within 5 miles of Russian Cemetery: 14 past producers, 7 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 plant.
8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Kyanite, Graphite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Westford, the town this property stands in, in 16 storm reports between 1995 and 2023: 11 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 2 hail, 1 flood.
The reports record 1 death and 9 injuries. 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.
Large branches and a transformer near Cold Spring Road were downed by thunderstorm winds resulting in brief power outages. In addition, several utility poles along Graniteville Road were blown down, resulting in the closure of that road at its intersection with Main Street.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
Named in the fire insurance atlases
Sanborn surveyors printed an index of the
town's establishments at the front of each atlas. This property is named in
one, read straight off the scanned sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Statement of significance
Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) XA Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. - B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. X C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. - D Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
Criteria Considerations (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: -A owned by religious institution or used for religious purposes. - B removed from its original location. _ C a birthplace or grave. XD a cemetery. _ E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. _F a commemorative property. -G less than 50 years of age or achieved significance within the past 50 years.
Narrative Statement of Significance (Explain the significance of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) Middlesex, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions) COMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ART SOCIAL HISTORY Period of Significance 1918-1955 Significant Dates n/a Significant Person (Complete if Criterion B is marked above) n/a Cultural Affiliation n/a Architect/Builder 9.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 05001324, 28 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.
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