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

East Otis, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Otis town. It lies in ZIP code area 01029. It stands on Latimer Hill. The Survey maps it on the Otis quadrangle.

East Otis within Berkshire County

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of East Otis, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of East Otis, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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

9 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of East Otis between 2015 and 2019, burning about 5 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None 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
Recreation and ceremony3
Debris and open burning3
Natural1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
9 September 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 July 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 May 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 May 2016Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
11 May 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 April 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder 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 1,632 shown

Museums hold 1,632 specimens collected within 10 miles of East Otis between 1872 and 1975: 871 Animalia, 572 Plantae, 187 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & A. C. Seymour, A. E. Treat 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
A photograph of the species Lygodium palmatum, not of this specimenLygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.1872Miller, E.S.East Hampton
A photograph of the species Botrychium lanceolatum, not of this specimenBotrychium lanceolatum (S.G.Gmel.) Ångstr.1873S. M. Piper
A photograph of the species Eleusine indica, not of this specimenEleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.1874Frederick N. Pease
A photograph of the species Gentianella quinquefolia, not of this specimenGentianella quinquefolia subsp. quinquefolia1875not recorded
A photograph of the species Leucobryum glaucum, not of this specimenLeucobryum glaucum (Hedw.) Ångstr.1877H. J. BiddlecomeChester
A photograph of the species Botrychium angustisegmentum, not of this specimenBotrychium angustisegmentum (Pease & A.H.Moore) Fernald1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Botrychium dissectum, not of this specimenBotrychium dissectum Spreng.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1879not recorded
A photograph of the species Balansia hypoxylon, not of this specimenBalansia hypoxylon (Peck) G.F.Atk.1882A. B. Seymour
Baeomyces roseus Pers.1895George T. MooreChestnut Hill
A photograph of the species Acer saccharum, not of this specimenAcer saccharum Marshall1897Vail, A.M.Tyringham
A photograph of the species Acer spicatum, not of this specimenAcer spicatum Lam.1897Vail, A.M.Vicinity of Tyringham

All 1,632 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

6 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of East Otis: 3 producers, 3 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Talc-Soapstone, Granite. 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
Berkshire QuarryGraniteProducer
Williams Stone CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstoneProducerMetamorphic
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstonePast Producer
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstoneProducerMetamorphic
Soapstone QuarryTalc-SoapstonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

6 since 2008

The National Weather Service names East Otis in 6 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2017LightningEast Otis$1,000A tree was on fire on Rainbow Street.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindEast Otis-Numerous trees were downed near Otis including on Tolland Road, Reservoir Road and Pine Road.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindEast Otis-A tree was reported down on wires.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindEast Otis-A tree was reported down across West Shore Road.
September 2008HailEast Otis-Penny size hail fell near East Otis during a thunderstorm.
September 2008HailEast Otis-Nickel size hail fell during a thunderstorm near East Otis.

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
Cold Spring2.5 miles37
Algerie Four Corners3.1 miles37
Otis3.3 miles37
Otis Wood Lanes3.6 miles37
North Otis5.6 miles37
Indian Lake Estates5.8 miles37
West New Boston5.9 miles39
New Boston5.9 miles39

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608039. 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.