BlockFrom the record
One of 389 National Register listings published here for Bristol County · listed in 2020 · category: Building.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Brayton Homestead
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1888.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 structuress, 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 159 Brayton Ave., Somerset, 02725
- When was it listed? 2020-05-29
- Category. building
- Town. Somerset town
- National Register reference number. 100005077 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
The ground it stands on
27,941 wordsThe chapter on Somerset Town in History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 names Somerset. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
George H. was one of a family of six. In addition to the common schools of Dighton had the advantage of an attendance of two or three sessions at a kind of select school in Somerset. He had the misfortune to lose both his parents early in life. He was only twelve years of age at the time of his father's death, and three years later his mother died. The elder brother, however, hired a housekeeper, took charge of the family, and thus kept them together until the several members were of an age capable of taking care of themselves. When George H. was fifteen years old he obtained employment in the Dighton Tack-Works, where he remained a few months, when he hired to work on a farm. After a year spent in this occupation he engaged with the Dighton Woolen Company, where he learned wool-sorting. He remained with this company (except an interval of about four months) until their works were destroyed by fire some three years later. During the interval above mentioned he went to West Buxton, Me., and took charge of a wool-sorting establishment. After the Dighton works were destroyed he spent a few months in the same line of business in Stillwater and Providence, R. I.
Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.
Somerset is one of the western tier of towns, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Swansea and Dighton, on the east and south by Taunton River, which separates it from Berkley, Freetown, and Fall River, and on the west by Swansea. Mount Hope bay also touches it upon the south.
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 Somerset Town - 27,941 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Fires near this property
23 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Brayton Homestead between 2008 and 2020, burning about 43 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 16 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 August 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 1 August 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 July 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 June 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 5 May 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.2 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 28 May 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.5 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Specimens collected near this property
12 of 1,105 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,105 specimens collected within 10 miles of Brayton Homestead between 1844 and 1975: 608 Animalia, 383 Plantae, 82 Fungi, 29 Chromista, 3 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E Schuyler, A. B. Hervey, A. Macrae 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hibiscus moscheutos subsp. moscheutos | 1844 | not recorded | |
 | Pluchea camphorata (L.) DC. | 1844 | not recorded | |
 | Ranunculus bulbosus L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Vitis labrusca L. | 1850 | not recorded | |
 | Apocynum cannabinum L. | 1855 | F. C. Seymour | Rehoboth |
 | Carex spicata Huds. | 1859 | Collector unspecified | Portsmouth. |
 | Scolopax minor J.F.Gmelin, 1789 | 1860 | Alan Poole | Westport |
 | Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1870 | Lermond, Norman | Providence, Narragansett Bay. In market at Providence. |
 | Chondrus crispus Stackhouse | 1874 | F. Wolle | Fall River |
| Conomitrium julianum (Savi ex DC.) Mont. | 1874 | unknown | Fall River | |
 | Doellingeria umbellata (Mill.) Nees | 1874 | J. H. Redfield | |
 | Ectocarpus littoralis (L.) Lyngb. | 1874 | F. Wolle | Fall River |
All 1,105 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this property
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Brayton Homestead: 1 plant. All of them still produce. 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swansea Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant |
Storms near this property
9 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Somerset, the town this property stands in, in 9 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 flood, 1 lightning. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Somerset | $570,000 | Buffington Brook |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | Somerset | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Somerset | $6,000 | In Somerset, three trees on Florida Avenue were downed by thunderstorm winds. A tree on Williams Street in Dighton was downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Somerset | $5,000 | In Fall River, numerous trees, branches, and power lines were down across the city. At least one car was damaged due to a fallen branch. |
| July 2016 | Lightning | Somerset | $5,000 | Lightning struck a tree, causing it to fall. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Somerset | $3,000 | Wires were downed on Route 103 in Somerset. In addition a large tree was downed in New Bedford blocking County Street. |
| July 2023 | Flash Flood | Somerset | - | In Somerset, the northbound side of Rt 138 was flooded and closed. |
| August 2009 | Flood | Somerset | - | Two to four inches of rain fell across Bristol County, resulting in minor street flooding. In Dartmouth, Russell Mills and Horseneck Roads were flooded and impassable and Old Westport Road was flooded with six inches of water. River Road near Sylvia Street in New Bedford was closed due to flooding. Stafford Square in Fall River was flooded with water two and a half feet deep and the westbound lane of Roebson Street was flooded. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Somerset | - | Wires were downed on Route 103 in Somerset. In addition a large tree was downed in New Bedford. |
Maps showing this location
16 surveysUnited States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
- 1888 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:62500 - 9 printings
- 1919 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Providence quadrangle1:125000
- 1944 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:31680 - 4 printings
- 1947 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000 - 5 printings
- 1948 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Providence quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
- 1967 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:25000
- 1977 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:25000
- 1984 USGS Providence quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Fall River quadrangle1:25000 - 2 printings
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther 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.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mechanics Mill | 0.5 miles | 1983 |
 | Nathan Read House | 0.6 miles | 1983 |
 | John M. Earle House | 0.7 miles | 1983 |
 | William Lindsey House | 0.7 miles | 1983 |
 | Qheguechan Club | 0.7 miles | 1983 |
 | Al Mac's Diner-Restaurant | 0.7 miles | 1999 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100005077 in Record Group 79. |
| Bristol County | All 389 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- 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.