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

East Sheffield, 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. The Survey maps it on the Ashley Falls quadrangle.

East Sheffield 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 East Sheffield, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of East Sheffield, 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

14 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of East Sheffield between 2015 and 2020, burning about 79 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 burning9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
29 April 2015Debris 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
18 April 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 April 2017Equipment and vehicle use47 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
15 April 2017Debris and open burning10 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 April 2015Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
12 April 2015Debris and open burning3.0 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 789 shown

Museums hold 789 specimens collected within 10 miles of East Sheffield between 1860 and 1973: 684 Plantae, 64 Animalia, 41 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. L. Ericson, A. Lorenz, A. Lowe 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 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 Crucibulum laeve, not of this specimenCrucibulum laeve (Huds.) Kambly1887L. 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 Hypnum imponens, not of this specimenHypnum imponens Hedw.1900H. B. BaileyMount Washington
A photograph of the species Carex blanda, not of this specimenCarex blanda Dewey1920R. E. Hoffmann
A photograph of the species Carex leptonervia, not of this specimenCarex leptonervia (Fernald) Fernald1920R. L. HoffmanSheffield.

All 789 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

5 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of East Sheffield: 4 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Nickel, Iron, Gold. 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
Cleveland MineIron, Gold, SulfurPast Producer
Hotchkiss MineNickel, IronPast Producer
Canaan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Canaan PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Toby Hill Iron MineIronPast Producer

Every working 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
Clayton0.7 miles43
Gomorrah0.8 miles43
Ashley Falls1.9 miles43
Mill River4.9 miles43
Southfield5.2 miles38
Sheffield5.2 miles43
New Marlborough6.4 miles38
South Sandisfield7.6 miles38

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607405. 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.