Petersham, MA
Worcester County42.4883°N, 72.1866°W
Tracking 1,103 properties across Petersham, Massachusetts — a community where the median home dates to 1958 and the oldest to 1700. Every parcel mapped with building characteristics, environmental exposure, hazard risk, and ownership history assembled from 140+ sources.
1,103
Properties Tracked
1958
Median Year Built
$251K
Median Assessed Value
0%
FEMA Flood Zone
293,751
NEP Data Facts Tracked
Zone 1
Radon Zone
Click any parcel to view intelligence
Petersham, MAInc. 1733
Petersham is a small, exceptionally rural town in the northern part of Worcester County, known for Harvard Forest — a 4,000-acre research forest operated by Harvard University that is one of the most studied forest ecosystems in the world. The town's landscape is defined by conservation land, forests, and a handful of stately homes around the town common.
For property professionals, Petersham is a very small, rural market where the Harvard Forest presence creates unusual institutional land use and where the limited number of residential properties means each transaction is essentially unique.
Risk Profile
FEMA flood zones, fire protection grades, radon — parcel by parcel
FEMA Flood Zones
No properties in Petersham fall within FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas.
AREA NOT INCLUDED
1,103
Fire Protection Grades
Fire protection grades reflect proximity to fire stations and hydrant infrastructure. Grade affects insurance pricing in every New England state.
Grade C
44
Grade D
344
Grade E
715
Zone 1
Radon Risk
123 mph
Design Wind Speed
ASCE 7 standard
50 psf
Ground Snow Load
ASCE 7 standard
Very Low
FEMA Risk Index
NRI composite rating
The Property Landscape
1,103 properties · Median year built 1958 · Avg 2,086 sf
Property Types
Single Family
515
Institutional
309
Vacant Land
180
Multi-Family
34
Agricultural / Open Space
34
Mixed Use
9
Commercial
8
Industrial
6
Other
3
Three-Family
3
Construction by Era
Pre-1800
57
1800-1849
51
1850-1899
67
1900-1949
86
1950-1979
100
1980-1999
105
2000+
121
Architectural Styles
Vacant Land
201
Cape Cod
154
Colonial
131
Conventional
105
Ranch
88
Utility / Service
63
Park / Playground
50
Shelter / Social Service
33
Market Activity
Recorded transactions from Worcester County Registry of Deeds
35%
Owner-Occupied
4%
Out-of-State Owners
NE Provenance tracks recorded deeds, mortgages, and liens for 91% of Petersham properties. Ownership intelligence includes transaction history, entity detection, portfolio identification, and lien analysis — assembled from public registry records into a single property-level profile.
Living in Petersham
Worcester County · Massachusetts
Zip Codes01005013310135501366
1,194
Population
2020 Census
1,103
Properties
$251K
Median Assessed
35%
Owner-Occupied
68.2
Square Miles
Petersham covers 68.2 square miles in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The median assessed property value is $251K.
Single-family homes account for 515 of Petersham's 1,103 properties. There are 180 parcels of vacant land. About 35% of properties are owner-occupied, and 4% are owned by someone out of state.
Assessed values range widely — the middle 50% of properties fall between $62K and $385K, with the highest assessed property at $11.8M. For professionals working in this market, the value spread tells you a lot about what you'll encounter door to door.
Most properties rely on private septic systems, and 0% have public water service. Electric service is provided by FITCHBURG GAS & ELEC LIGHT CO. 59 properties have identified commercial activity — restaurants, retail, professional offices, and services that give Petersham its character.
What Petersham Property Intelligence Means for Professionals
Insurance & Underwriting
Petersham's fire protection grade distribution (44 Grade C, 344 Grade D) directly affects premium calculation. Parcel-level hazard data provides the granularity that ZIP-level aggregation misses.
Insurance solutionsReal Estate & Appraisal
Petersham's 10 property types, spanning construction from 1700 to present, require local market knowledge for accurate comparable selection and valuation. NEP assembles building characteristics, environmental exposure, and condition signals into a single property profile.
Real estate solutionsLending & Title
Collateral assessment requires flood zone verification, environmental screening, and ownership chain validation. NEP provides property-level compliance data from public records.
Lending solutionsInspection & Property Services
Understanding a property's construction era, environmental exposure, and building characteristics before arriving on site transforms inspection from discovery to verification.
Inspection solutionsExplore Petersham property intelligence.
1,103 Petersham properties — each with risk profiles, building data, permit history, and ownership analysis from 140+ sources. Open any property and see the full picture.
Newburyport, MA · Federalist · 3,524 sq ft · 4 bed / 3 bath · Built 1800 · Historic District
NEP Property Intelligence Summary
ConditionC1Fire ClassBFlood ZoneXOwnerIndividualOccupancyOwner-Occupied
Purchased2018 (8yr)Permits11 totalSystems3 updatedLiensClearAssessed$1.6MOcean0.3 mi
EraPre-1940HistoricDesignatedRenovationRecentRadonZone 1
Cite this data
Source: NE Provenance, “Professional Property Intelligence for New England,” neprovenance.com/insights/town/petersham-ma. For references or attribution, please link back to this page or neprovenance.com. Thank you, we appreciate it.