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Oakham, Massachusetts

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Oakham town. It lies in ZIP code area 01068. It lies near Prospect Hill. The Survey maps it on the North Brookfield quadrangle.

Oakham within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Oakham, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Oakham, surveyed 1887

On record in Oakham

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 3 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

18 surveys from 32 printed 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.

In the county-history sources

10,154 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Oakham Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first settlement in Worcester County was made in what is now the town of Lancaster in 1043; but it was more than seventy years after that date before the settlers had reached the " mother town of Rutland" (of which Oakham was formerly a part), and one hundred and seven years before the tide of emigration had overflowed into what is now the town of Oakham.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

Oakham was the southwest corner of the "twelve miles square," and, previous to its incorporation, known as " Rutland West Wing." Its surface is uneven, and the soil is of great variety. The range of hills, extending from the northeast section, through the central and southwest portion, thence into New Braintree, possess a deep, heavy, clay soil, excellent for grass, fruit, corn and the smaller grains. While the gravelh' soil of the northwest part and the sandy plains of the eastern border produce excellent crops of potatoes and all kinds of grain. At the time of its first settlement the surface was covered with vast forests principally of oak and chestnut, while many other varieties of wood and timber, such as maple, birch, ash, hemlock, pine, poplar, etc., were found in greater or less abundance.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

Only three years after having become a separate precinct at a meeting held April 16, 1762, it was voted " to petition the General Court to be incorporated as a separate town," and on the 11th day of June, 1762, was passed " an act for erecting the West Precinct of Rutland into a district by the name of Oakham."

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men., published 1889.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Oakham Town - it names this place 22 more 22 times.

Fires near this place

38 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Oakham between 2015 and 2018, burning about 43 acres in total. None 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 burning21
Recreation and ceremony9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Arson/incendiarism2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Smoking1

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
4 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 August 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 July 2016Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2016Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 July 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 July 2016Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 595 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 595 specimens collected within 10 miles of Oakham between 1839 and 1974: 259 Plantae, 246 Animalia, 88 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. C. V. Schott, A.B. Seymour, A.E. Daugherty and L. Babbitt 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 Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1900Roscoe I. Giles
A photograph of the species Bartramia pomiformis, not of this specimenBartramia pomiformis Hedw.1839unknownBarre
A photograph of the species Carex gracillima, not of this specimenCarex gracillima Schwein.1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Carex intumescens, not of this specimenCarex intumescens Rudge1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Carex lacustris, not of this specimenCarex lacustris Willd.1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Carex stipata, not of this specimenCarex stipata Muhl. ex Willd.1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Cirsium arvense, not of this specimenCirsium arvense (L.) Scop.1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Cypripedium acaule, not of this specimenCypripedium acaule Aiton1839M. S. BebbBarre
A photograph of the species Aquilegia canadensis, not of this specimenAquilegia canadensis L.1894H. E. GreenwoodHolden
A photograph of the species Chrysosplenium americanum, not of this specimenChrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1894H. E. Greenwood
Nitella megacarpa (T.F.A.) R.D.W.1894G. E. SternLake Lashaway
Viola rotundifolia Michx.1894H. E. Greenwood

All 595 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Oakham: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: 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
Highway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Landfill PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

8 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oakham in 8 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 hail. The reports record 4 injuries. 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 1997LightningOakham4 hurtno account filed
September 2016Thunderstorm WindOakham$15,000Trees downed on multiple streets throughout Oakham.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindOakham$5,000Trees and wires on Scott Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindOakham$1,000In Oakham, a large tree was down on North Brookfield Road.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindOakham$800In Oakham, a tree and wires were down on Spencer Rd.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindOakham$800In Oakham, trees were down on wires on Lincoln Road.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindOakham-In Oakham, two trees were down near Scott Rd.
August 2024HailOakham-In Oakham, 1 inch hail fell.

Every storm recorded in Worcester 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
Coldbrook Springs2.9 miles31
White Hall2.9 miles42
Smithville2.9 miles31
West Rutland3.1 miles42
White Valley3.2 miles31
South Barre3.5 miles31
Barre Plains3.8 miles31
New Boston4.4 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609952. 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.