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

Ashley Falls, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Sheffield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01222. It stands on Stony Brook. The Survey maps it on the Ashley Falls quadrangle.

Ashley Falls 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 Ashley Falls, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Ashley Falls, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

43 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

21 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Ashley Falls between 2015 and 2020, burning about 100 acres in total. None 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 burning13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Equipment and vehicle use2
Arson/incendiarism1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
22 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreConnecticut Division of ForestryCLAYTON ROAD NORTH CANAAN
9 July 2019Equipment and vehicle use10 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
16 May 2016Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 April 2015Debris and open burning10 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 April 2015Debris and open burning7.0 acresMassachusetts 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 976 shown

Museums hold 976 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ashley Falls between 1860 and 1973: 823 Plantae, 108 Animalia, 44 Fungi, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Brown, A. L. Ericson, A. Lorenz 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 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 Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1878L. H. HoysradtMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Chordeiles minor, not of this specimenChordeiles minor minor (J.R.Forster, 1771)1883Collector(s): H. C. Johnsonnear New Marlboro
A photograph of the species Juncus tenuis, not of this specimenJuncus tenuis Willd.1884J. BallGreat Barrington
A photograph of the species Solidago caesia, not of this specimenSolidago caesia L.1884J. BallGreat Barrington
A photograph of the species Anthoceros laevis, not of this specimenAnthoceros laevis L.1887UnknownSheffield
A photograph of the species Coltricia cinnamomea, not of this specimenColtricia cinnamomea (Jacq.) Murrill1887L. M. UnderwoodMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1897Elizabeth G. BrittonMount Washington
Gyrostachys ochroleuca Rydb.1897Mrs. LongMt. Washington
A photograph of the species Hylocomium splendens, not of this specimenHylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp.1897Elizabeth G. BrittonBashbish Falls
A photograph of the species Neckera besseri, not of this specimenNeckera besseri (Lobarz.) Jur.1897E. G. BrittonBashbish Falls

All 976 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Ashley Falls: 2 past producers, 1 prospect, 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
Canaan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Canaan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Spurr ProspectIronProspect
Toby Hill Iron MineIronPast Producer

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

6 since 2013

The National Weather Service names Ashley Falls in 6 storm reports between 2013 and 2023: 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 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
July 2023FloodAshley Falls$30,000A portion of Weatogue Road near Bartholomew's Cobble Reservation was washed out due to heavy rainfall in the Town of Sheffield. In addition, a section of Rannapo Road was close closed due to water over the road up to 1.5 feet deep.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindAshley Falls-A tree was down across Route 7 northbound, just north of Salisbury County line.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindAshley Falls-Trees and wires were downed.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindAshley Falls-Large limbs were downed along Valley View Road.
August 2014Flash FloodAshley Falls-Cooper Hill Road at Rannapo Road in Ashley Falls was impassable due to flash flooding from heavy rainfall.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindAshley Falls-Wires were reported down as a result of thunderstorm winds in Ashley Falls.

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
East Sheffield1.9 miles43
Gomorrah2.6 miles43
Clayton2.6 miles43
Sheffield3.9 miles43
Mill River5.4 miles43
Southfield6.3 miles38
Alander6.9 miles44
New Marlborough7.3 miles38

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122564902The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607276. 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.