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

Alford, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Alford town. It lies in ZIP code area 01230. It stands on Alford Brook. The Survey maps it on the Egremont quadrangle.

Alford within Berkshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 112 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Alford, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Alford, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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.

Fires nearby

32 since 2001

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Alford between 2001 and 2019, burning about 21 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 2 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 burning15
Equipment and vehicle use5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Natural3
Arson/incendiarism2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
28 August 2016Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
1 August 2017Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 July 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 July 2015Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
18 July 2019Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 June 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
8 May 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 May 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,317 shown

Museums hold 1,317 specimens collected within 10 miles of Alford between 1833 and 1975: 960 Plantae, 183 Fungi, 168 Animalia, 3 Chromista, 3 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A W Evans, A. Brown, A. F. Beale 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 Equisetum sylvaticum L.Equisetum sylvaticum L.1900Day, M.E.Sheffield.
A photograph of the species Betula alleghaniensis, not of this specimenBetula alleghaniensis Britton1833Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Betula pumila, not of this specimenBetula pumila L.1833Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Carex utriculata, not of this specimenCarex utriculata Boott1833W. L. Worcester
A photograph of the species Dennstaedtia punctilobula, not of this specimenDennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) T.Moore1833Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Gymnocarpium dryopteris, not of this specimenGymnocarpium dryopteris (L.) Newman1833Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Parnassia caroliniana, not of this specimenParnassia caroliniana Michx.1834not recorded
A photograph of the species Percopsis omiscomaycus, not of this specimenPercopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum, 1792)1860Britton McCabeGreen R. (trib. of Housatonic R.), 1 mi. S of Great Barrington on Rt. 23
A photograph of the species Platanthera peramoena, not of this specimenPlatanthera peramoena A.Gray1863J. T. StewartGlendale
A photograph of the species Spiranthes magnicamporum, not of this specimenSpiranthes magnicamporum Sheviak1863J. T. StewartGlendale
A photograph of the species Bartramia pomiformis, not of this specimenBartramia pomiformis Hedw.1895not recorded
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1897Elizabeth G. BrittonMount Washington

All 1,317 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

8 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Alford: 6 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Iron, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Donovan Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
J Donovan and SonSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Mitchell Limonite MineIronPast ProducerLimonite
Mitchell Limonite MineIronPast Producer
Mitchell MineIronPast ProducerResidual
Tremper MineIronOccurrenceLimonite
Tremper MineIronPast ProducerResidual
Tremper MineIronPast Producer

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

9 since 2000

The National Weather Service names Alford in 9 storm reports between 2000 and 2024: 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 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
June 2000Thunderstorm WindAlford$9,000no account filed
December 2023FloodAlford$5,000Seekonk Cross Road was closed in the Town of Great Barrington due to flooding.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindAlford-A tree was downed on West Carter Road in West Stockbridge.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindAlford-Trees and wires were reported down on North Egremont Road in Alford due to thunderstorm winds.
June 2015HailAlford-Quarter size hail was reported during a thunderstorm in Alford.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindAlford-Numerous trees were reported down in Alford as a result of thunderstorm winds.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindAlford-State Police reported that 10 to 15 trees were sheared off and wires were knocked down due to thunderstorm winds near Alford. The downed trees and wires caused Route 71 to be closed.
May 2011Thunderstorm WindAlford-Five large trees were reported down due to strong thunderstorm winds approximately 5 miles northwest of Great Barrington.
June 2000Thunderstorm WindAlford-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Berkshire 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
Williamsville2.7 miles43
Van Deusenville2.7 miles40
Housatonic2.8 miles42
North Egremont3.0 miles42
Risingdale3.2 miles40
Egremont Plain3.5 miles42
Great Barrington3.9 miles40
Berkshire Heights4.0 miles40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607267. 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.