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

New Salem, Massachusetts

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1990. It stands in New Salem town. It lies in ZIP code area 01355. It stands on Giles Brook. The Survey maps it on the Orange quadrangle.

New Salem within Franklin County

Then and now

1887 to 1990

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of New Salem, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of New Salem, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

32 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

17 since 2006

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of New Salem between 2006 and 2020, burning about 9 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
Debris and open burning13
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Recreation and ceremony1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Natural1

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
23 August 2020Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 June 2017Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
24 May 2020Debris and open burning1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 April 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 April 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 April 2018Debris and open burning2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 April 2006Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
17 April 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 3,605 shown

Museums hold 3,605 specimens collected within 10 miles of New Salem between 1856 and 1975: 3,051 Animalia, 288 Plantae, 261 Fungi, 3 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. Smith, A. Cronquist, A. K. Harrison 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 Pyxine sorediata, not of this specimenPyxine sorediata (Ach.) Mont.1856Charles C. Frost
A photograph of the species Juncus pelocarpus, not of this specimenJuncus pelocarpus E.Mey.1860E. TuckermanShutesbury.
A photograph of the species Varicellaria velata, not of this specimenVaricellaria velata (Turner) I.Schmitt & Lumbsch1864E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Fimbristylis autumnalis, not of this specimenFimbristylis autumnalis (L.) Roem. & Schult.1870not recorded
A photograph of the species Glyceria melicaria, not of this specimenGlyceria melicaria (Michx.) F.T.Hubb.1870H. G. JesupPelham
A photograph of the species Utricularia intermedia, not of this specimenUtricularia intermedia Hayne1871Collector(s): Henry Griswold JesupShutesbury
A photograph of the species Carex stricta, not of this specimenCarex stricta Lam.1872H. G. JesupLeverett
A photograph of the species Brasenia peltata, not of this specimenBrasenia peltata Pursh1892not recordedLeverett
A photograph of the species Woodsia obtusa, not of this specimenWoodsia obtusa (Spreng.) Torr.1892not recordedLeverett
A photograph of the species Anychia dichotoma, not of this specimenAnychia dichotoma (Moench) Michx.1893not recordedLeverett
A photograph of the species Caliciopsis pinea, not of this specimenCaliciopsis pinea Peck1928Hansbrough J. R.Athol
A photograph of the species Catostomus commersonii, not of this specimenCatostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)1928CL & LC HubbsTrib. of Miller's River, South Athol, NW border of Worcester Co., below a dam-pond, above res.; Connecticut system

All 3,605 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 New Salem: 2 occurrences, 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gemstone, Garnet, Garnet. 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
Almandine - Garnet OccuranceGemstone, GarnetOccurrenceMetamorphic
Almandine-Garnet OccuranceGarnetOccurrence
B L Frye IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Frye Pit & PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms nearby

14 since 1994

The National Weather Service names New Salem in 14 storm reports between 1994 and 2021: 7 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 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
May 2010Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$25,000Trees and wires were downed throughout New Salem, resulting in power outages in half the town.
August 2001LightningNew Salem$20,000no account filed
May 2013Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$5,000A tree was downed onto wires on Crowl and Neilson Streets.
August 2005HailNew Salem$5,000no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$5,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$3,000A tree on Elm Street was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$500In New Salem, a tree was down across Daniel Shays Hwy.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindNew Salem$300In New Salem, a tree was down on Daniel Shays Highway.
June 2007HailNew Salem-Penny size hail.
June 1994HailNew Salem-A spotter reported dime-size hail in southeast Franklin County. As the storm moved east, there were numerous reports of small hail and wind gusts to 30 to 40 mph from near the Quabbin Reservoir, Templeton, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Lowell.
May 2013HailNew Salem-no account filed
June 2008HailNew Salem-no account filed
August 2003HailNew Salem-no account filed
June 2000HailNew Salem-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Franklin 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
Millington (historical)2.6 miles32
Morse Village2.7 miles32
North New Salem3.0 miles32
South Wendell3.3 miles32
North Prescott3.4 miles32
Cooleyville3.6 miles32
Wendell4.6 miles32
Shutesbury5.3 miles35

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609449. 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.