South Amherst, Massachusetts
44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Amherst Town City. It lies in ZIP code area 01002. It stands on Mount Castor. The Survey maps it on the Mount Holyoke quadrangle.
Then and now
1885 to 1985The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
44 sheetsMatched 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.
- 1885 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1886 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1891 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1895 USGS Northampton quadrangle1:62500
- 1896 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1897 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1901 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1935 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:24000
- 1941 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:31680
- 1941 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:31680
- 1941 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:31680
- 1943 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:125000
- 1947 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:24000
- 1947 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:24000
- 1947 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:31680
- 1948 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1956 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:24000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:24000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1964 USGS Mt Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1964 USGS Mt. Holyoke quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:100000
Fires nearby
52 since 2001The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 52 fires within 5 miles of South Amherst between 2001 and 2020, burning about 289 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 28 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 July 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 14 July 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 27 June 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 26 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 1 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 May 2018 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1.5 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected nearby
12 of 9,253 shownMuseums hold 9,253 specimens collected within 10 miles of South Amherst between 1781 and 1975: 3,885 Animalia, 3,407 Plantae, 1,746 Fungi, 137 Chromista, 67 Protozoa, 10 Unrecorded, 1 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Albee, A. Allen, A. B. Seymour 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Cercospora violae Sacc. | 1895 | Ralph E. Smith | Hothouse, Mass. Agr. College, Amherst |
![]() | Actias luna Linnaeus, 1758 | 1896 | not recorded | |
![]() | Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773) | 1896 | not recorded | |
![]() | Carex argyrantha Tuck. ex Dewey | 1781 | H. G. Jesup | Amherst in Hampshire Co., and Leverett in Franklin Co., Massachusetts. [Inferred counties from precise loc.] |
![]() | Carex foenea Willd. | 1781 | H. G. Jesup | And Leverett |
![]() | Ustilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle | 1810 | J.E. Humphrey | |
![]() | Ranunculus ambigens S.Watson | 1831 | S. Shurtleff | |
![]() | Kalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia | 1838 | L. DeWette | Northampton. |
![]() | Kalmia latifolia var. latifolia | 1838 | L. DeWette | Northampton. |
![]() | Pogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl. | 1838 | L. DeWette | Northampton. |
![]() | Dactylis glomerata L. | 1839 | S J Ewer | |
![]() | Solidago arguta Aiton | 1841 | Collector(s): Henry Holmes Babcock, Henry Griswold Jesup | Amherst |
All 9,253 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
10 within 5 milesThe federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of South Amherst: 5 producers, 4 past producers, 1 unknown. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Brick Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham Quarry | Asbestos, Emery | Past Producer | ||
| Amherst Plant No. 5 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Amherst Quarry Plant#5 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Clay Pit | Brick Clay | Producer | Clay | |
| Clay Pit | Brick Clay | Producer | Clay | |
| Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Blakeslee-Arpaia-Chapman S&G Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| D D Ruxton Co Inc | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Pulpit Hill Road Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms nearby
4 since 2001The National Weather Service names South Amherst in 4 storm reports between 2001 and 2019: 4 hail. 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.
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mill Valley | 1.3 miles | 44 | |
| Amherst Center | 2.5 miles | 42 | |
| East Village | 2.6 miles | 35 | |
| Amherst | 2.9 miles | 42 | |
| East Hadley | 3.0 miles | 44 | |
| Dwight | 3.1 miles | 32 | |
| West Pelham | 3.2 miles | 35 | |
| Plainville | 3.5 miles | 42 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609086. 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.























































