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

Rings Island, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1987. It stands in Salisbury town. It lies in ZIP code area 01952. It stands on Gangway Rock. The Survey maps it on the Newburyport East quadrangle.

Rings Island within Essex County

Then and now

1888 to 1987

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rings Island, surveyed 1987
Topographic sheet of Rings Island, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

44 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

76 since 2007

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 76 fires within 5 miles of Rings Island between 2007 and 2020, burning about 33 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 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 burning17
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Equipment and vehicle use10
Arson/incendiarism9
Recreation and ceremony7
Fireworks7
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Other causes1

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
3 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreParker River National Wildlife RefugeSALT PANNES
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2017Fireworksunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
17 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
1 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSALISBURY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,241 shown

Museums hold 2,241 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rings Island between 1800 and 1975: 1,398 Plantae, 553 Animalia, 189 Fungi, 88 Chromista, 7 Unrecorded, 4 Protozoa, 2 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A A Eaton, A Brown, A. A. Eaton 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 Hypnum curvifolium Hedw.Hypnum curvifolium Hedw.1900John W. Huntington
Specimen of Plagiotheciella latebricola (Schimp.) M.Fleisch.Plagiotheciella latebricola (Schimp.) M.Fleisch.1900John W. Huntington
A photograph of the species Rhodobryum roseum, not of this specimenRhodobryum roseum (Hedw.) Limpr.1800J. W. HuntingtonAmesbury
A photograph of the species Dichelyma capillaceum, not of this specimenDichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin1833J. W. Huntington
A photograph of the species Dumetella carolinensis, not of this specimenDumetella carolinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)1833J.S. AppletonWest Newbury
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Clethra alnifolia, not of this specimenClethra alnifolia L.1840OakesHerbariumRowley
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Iva frutescens, not of this specimenIva frutescens L.1840Oakesad Ipswich
A photograph of the species Potentilla anserina, not of this specimenPotentilla anserina L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Sisymbrium officinale, not of this specimenSisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.1840OakesIpswich
A photograph of the species Dasya C.Agardh, not of this specimenDasya C.Agardh, 18241842Collector unknownLittle River near Old Town, 6 miles from the sea

All 2,241 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 Rings Island: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Lead, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Gold, Silver. 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
Chipman MineLead, Zinc, Copper, Gold, SilverPast Producer
Newburyport Pb-A?^IctLead, SilverPast Producer
Amesbury PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Maurice Concrete Products CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Essex 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
Newburyport0.7 miles47
Joppa0.9 miles44
Upper Green1.7 miles44
Salisbury1.7 miles44
Plumbush2.4 miles44
Browns Point2.5 miles44
Plum Island2.8 miles44
Salisbury Point3.0 miles47

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 Q122550067The 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 613743. 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.