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

Turners Falls, Massachusetts

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Montague town. It lies in ZIP code area 01376. It stands on Canada Hill. The Survey maps it on the Greenfield quadrangle.

Turners Falls within Franklin County

Then and now

1890 to 1990

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 Turners Falls, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of Turners Falls, surveyed 1890

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

40 since 2016

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 40 fires within 5 miles of Turners Falls between 2016 and 2020, burning about 18 acres in total. None 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 burning28
Smoking6
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Recreation and ceremony2

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
17 August 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 July 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 June 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 June 2020Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 May 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 May 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 May 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 May 2020Smokingunder 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 3,329 shown

Museums hold 3,329 specimens collected within 10 miles of Turners Falls between 1822 and 1975: 1,190 Plantae, 1,108 Animalia, 899 Fungi, 115 Unrecorded, 13 Protozoa, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A S Pease, A. Clark, A. Cronquist 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 Dryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) WattDryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) Watt1896Leonard, F.E.Northfield, Mass.
A photograph of the species Ptilidium pulcherrimum, not of this specimenPtilidium pulcherrimum (Weber) Hampe1822Ebenezer Emmons
A photograph of the species Cinna latifolia, not of this specimenCinna latifolia (Trevir. ex Göpp.) Griseb.1847Russell
unnamed (fossil)1867Othniel C. Marshblack sh, [property of T.M. Stoughton, 1871 Beers County map, previously owned by Dr. Roswell Field], S side of Connecticut River, Horse Race, Montague
A photograph of the species Carex pedunculata, not of this specimenCarex pedunculata Muhl. ex Willd.1892J. R. ChurchillMount Toby
A photograph of the species Carex prasina, not of this specimenCarex prasina Wahlenb.1892J. R. ChurchillMontague
A photograph of the species Carex torta, not of this specimenCarex torta Boott1892J. R. ChurchillMontague
A photograph of the species Hedeoma pulegioides, not of this specimenHedeoma pulegioides (L.) Pers.1892not recordedMt. Toby
Rhexia virginica L.1892not recordedMillers Falls
Spiranthes gracilis (Bigelow) L.C.Beck1892not recordedMt. Toby
A photograph of the species Spiranthes ochroleuca, not of this specimenSpiranthes ochroleuca (Rydb.) Rydb.1894Swinerton, J.R.Greenfield
A photograph of the species Asplenium rhizophyllum, not of this specimenAsplenium rhizophyllum L.1895not recorded

All 3,329 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

8 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Turners Falls: 4 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer, 1 prospect. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Barium-Barite, Copper, Iron, Copper, Barium-Barite. 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
Turner Falls Copper Occurence NorthCopper, Barium-BariteOccurrenceMalachite
Turner Falls Copper Occurence SouthwestBarium-Barite, Copper, IronOccurrence
Turner Falls Copper ProspectBarium-Barite, CopperProspect
Greenfield PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mackin Sand and Gravel IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
East Deerfield Quarry and MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Town of Greenfield PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Warner Brothers IncStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms nearby

12 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Turners Falls in 12 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 lightning, 1 flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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
July 2018LightningTurners Falls1 hurt, $5,000At 12:14 PM EST, lightning struck a house on K Street in Turners Falls, Massachusetts. This caused a house fire, with one injury resulting.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls$25,000Numerous power lines throughout Turners Falls were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2018FloodTurners Falls$5,000At 4:12 PM EST flooding from heavy rain forced manhole covers off their settings on Avenue A near Food City Plaza in Turners Falls, and made the road impassable. At 5:25 PM EST Griswold Street and Avenue C in Turners Falls were flooded and impassable.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls$5,000Trees and wires on Turners Falls road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls$5,000A tree and wires on Federal Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
February 2017Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls$4,000Trees and wires down on South Cross Road in Gill. Tree down on Route 2.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls$1,300In Montague, trees and wires were down on Montague City Road near Walnut Street.
March 2026LightningTurners Falls$1,000In Gill, lightning struck a tree which downed powerlines on Main Rd.
July 2023Flash FloodTurners Falls-In Greenfield, Rt 2 was closed at Adams Rd.
June 2013HailTurners Falls-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindTurners Falls-no account filed
May 1998HailTurners Falls-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
Riverside0.7 miles32
Factory Village (historical)0.9 miles32
Montague City1.5 miles32
East Greenfield2.4 miles32
Greenfield2.6 miles32
East Deerfield2.6 miles32
Cheapside2.7 miles32
Hales Crossing3.5 miles37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608956. 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.