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

Thermopylae, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1985. It stands in South Hadley town. It lies in ZIP code area 01075. It stands on Dry Brook. The Survey maps it on the Mount Holyoke quadrangle.

Thermopylae within Hampshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1985

The 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 sheet of Thermopylae, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Thermopylae, surveyed 1885

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

122 since 2001

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 122 fires within 5 miles of Thermopylae between 2001 and 2020, burning about 336 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 6 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined41
Equipment and vehicle use37
Natural14
Debris and open burning13
Recreation and ceremony10
Arson/incendiarism6
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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #4
18 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #3
17 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #2
15 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSylvio O. Conte National Wildlife RefugeMILL RV DIV MA-SCR #1
15 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 5,948 shown

Museums hold 5,948 specimens collected within 10 miles of Thermopylae between 1781 and 1975: 2,996 Plantae, 1,530 Fungi, 1,215 Animalia, 133 Chromista, 64 Protozoa, 9 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 SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Cercospora violae Sacc.Cercospora violae Sacc.1895Ralph E. SmithHothouse, Mass. Agr. College, Amherst
Specimen of Actias luna Linnaeus, 1758Actias luna Linnaeus, 17581896not recorded
Specimen of Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)Plathemis lydia (Drury, 1773)1896not recorded
A photograph of the species Carex argyrantha, not of this specimenCarex argyrantha Tuck. ex Dewey1781H. G. JesupAmherst in Hampshire Co., and Leverett in Franklin Co., Massachusetts. [Inferred counties from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Carex foenea, not of this specimenCarex foenea Willd.1781H. G. JesupAnd Leverett
A photograph of the species Ustilago nuda, not of this specimenUstilago nuda (C.N.Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle1810J.E. Humphrey
A photograph of the species Carex bromoides, not of this specimenCarex bromoides Willd.1831Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Ranunculus ambigens, not of this specimenRanunculus ambigens S.Watson1831S. Shurtleff
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1836Collector unknown
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1836Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Kalmia angustifolia, not of this specimenKalmia angustifolia f. angustifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Kalmia latifolia, not of this specimenKalmia latifolia var. latifolia1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.

All 5,948 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 20 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Thermopylae: 12 producers, 7 past producers, 1 unknown. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Brick Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay, Stone, Dimension. 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
South Hadlay SandSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sandstone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
Sandstone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
Sandstone QuarryStone, DimensionProducerSandstone
Sandstone QuarryStone, DimensionProducerSandstone
Sandstone QuarryStone, DimensionProducerSandstone
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Hampshire 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
Hockanum0.8 miles44
Mount Tom0.9 miles44
South Hadley2.1 miles44
Moody Corner2.2 miles44
Great Swamp2.7 miles44
Aldrich Mills3.3 miles44
Northampton3.7 miles42
Easthampton3.8 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609096. 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.