Please note that use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.

Please note, for a comprehensive review of County layout plans and instruments of taking, a search should be performed in the County Commissioners' index, the Engineering Department's indexes, and in the Registry of Deeds.

This site contains various records of the County of Norfolk Engineering Department.

County Commissioners' Index

Norfolk County Commissioners' Index includes bridges, highways, railroad crossings, railroad damages, railroad locations, and turnpikes. (current as of 2002)

The County Commissioners' Index is the main reference for all the railroad and county layout plans and takings. The plan book references for highways and railroads refer to the County Highways Plan Books and County Railroad Plan Books. The record volume and page references refer to the County Commissioners' record books, see below.

County Commissioners' Record Books (also known as County Clerks' records)

County Commissioners' record books 1 through 46 (including 1A and 43A). Records comprise actions by the County Commissioners, including bridges, highways, railroad crossings, railroad damages, railroad locations, and turnpikes. These are the records recorded in the County Commissioners' Index under volume and page. These records generally precede any requirements to record in the Registry of Deeds.

County Highway Plans

County layouts indexed from the County Commissioners' Index. This is an incomplete set of scans due to poor condition of the original records.

The County Highway Plan Books have been scanned up to book 25. Layouts after book 25 are generally recorded in the registry of deeds. See the County Layouts spreadsheets for Registry recording references.

County Engineering Department Index Cards (current as of 4/2017)

Field Book		Field books are indexed by town name and then by street name.
Calculation Book		Calculation Books contain office calculations related to survey information for survey traverse and Layouts, layout taking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and other various survey notes. They are indexed in the County Index Cards by Town and Street Name.
Layouts		Layouts are indexed by town name and then by street name.
Projects		Layouts are indexed by town name and then by street name. There is also a miscellaneous card for each town.

The County Index Cards are an index for the Norfolk County Engineering Department's records. The records include the field books, Calculation Books, Layouts, and Project Folders. The field books contain survey information for the Layouts such as existing corridor surveys, benchmarks and leveling notes, layout staking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and other various survey notes. Calculation Books contain office calculations related to survey information for survey traverse and Layouts, layout taking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and other various survey notes. They are indexed in the County Index Cards by Town and Street Name. The Layout cards refer to the Norfolk County Engineering Department's in-house numbers for County Layouts. The Layout cards also refer to a County Commissioners' Highway Plan Book and Page Number. The Project index cards refer to a folder number for a project the County Engineering Department has produced. These project folders generally contain survey records, research, calculations, and other information pertaining to a County Layout, work a Town requested, or work done on County property.

County Layout Indexes

COUNTY LAYOUTS

Spreadsheets of county layouts from approximately 1925 to 2016.

COUNTY LAYOUTS B-PLANS

Spreadsheets of county layouts before 1925.

COUNTY M-PLANS

Spreadsheets of miscellaneous plans.

County Layout Calculation Books from Layout project office folder

Project folder Calculation Books contain office calculations related to survey information for survey traverse and Layouts, layout taking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and other various survey notes. They are taken from the County Layout project office folders and can be found by Layout Number as indexed in the County Layout Index Cards by Town and Street Name.

County Highway Taking Documents 1925± - 2016

Taking instruments for county layouts from approximately 1925 to 2016. These instruments are referenced by using an in-house County Layout Number as found in the County Layout indexes.

County Layouts Office Copies 1925± - 2016

Office copies of Norfolk County layouts, not copies of the recorded plans. See the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds for recorded copies. These Layouts are referenced by using an in-house County Layout Number as found in the County Layout indexes.

County Railroad Plans

Various scans of railroad layouts indexed from the County Commissioners' Index. This is an incomplete set of scans due to poor condition of the original records.

The County Railroad plans are the original plans for Railroad takings in Norfolk County. They are indexed in the County Commissioners' Index under Railroad Locations. There are about two dozen pages in this index concerning these takings. They are not in order by date or town. It is recommended to go through the whole index noting the layouts in a town, then viewing the corresponding County Railroad plans.

Deceased Land Surveyors

MALSCE Directory of Retired or Deceased Land Surveyor Records, dated January, 1982. Included are various additional entries.
MALSE Eastern Mass Chapter MALSCE Directory of Retired or Deceased Land Surveyor Records

Field Books

1 to 649		Scanned in their entirety including blank pages. No additional work will be added to these books. Note, book 11 is missing.
650 to 677		Various stages of scanning. Books are still in use for projects. Example of entry:     FB 651   Book is completely scanned.     FB 654 Cover to page 123   Only the pages listed are scanned.     FB 670 NOT IN USE   Book is blank.

The field books contain survey information for the Layouts such as existing corridor surveys, benchmarks and leveling notes, layout staking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and various other survey notes. They are indexed in the County Index Cards by Town and Street Name.

Calculation Books

1 to 165

Scanned in their entirety including blank pages. No additional work will be added to these books. Note, book 11 is missing.

The Calculation Books contain office calculations related to survey information for survey traverse and Layouts, layout taking notes, ties to bounds, monument locations, and other various survey notes. They are indexed in the County Index Cards by Town and Street Name.

Land Court Petition Plans

A collection of various land court petitioner's plans in Norfolk County. They are organized by Land Court Plan number. Most of the plans are the petitioner's "A" plan.

Medfield Baseline Information

Information concerning the EDMI baseline located in Medfield, Massachusetts.

Norfolk County Benchmarks and GPS Control

1941 publication of Massachusetts Geodetic Survey of Benchmarks in Norfolk County. (a.k.a. Adjusted Benchmarks of Norfolk County)
MA DOT NAVD 88       Relation of Datum Planes, 9/1996, Mass Highway Metric Survey Manual, 1996
MA DOT NGVD 29       Relation of Datum Planes, 11/2001, Mass Highway Metric Survey Manual, 1996
Town of Braintree Vertical Datum       Town of Braintree, 2020
Town of Dedham 2008 GPS Control Network
Town of Weymouth Bench Mark Control Network
2026 NCED County GPS Control Points
2001 County GPS Control Points

Railroad Information

Various information concerning railroads collected by the Engineering Department.

The Norfolk County Engineering Department has done research on railroads for several projects over the years. Some of the information includes railroad plan book and page references, takings, MBTA title, valuation map information, and contacts for other railroad resources.

Railroad Valuation Maps

Railroad Valuation maps in Norfolk County including an index map.

Town Boundaries

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Topographic Survey Commission Atlas of Boundaries, various dates. Included excel spreadsheet with the book inventory.

Updates

Chronological list of changes made to the Engineering Department website.

Any questions please contact us at webrecords@NorfolkCounty.org