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

Washington, Massachusetts

37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Washington town. It lies in ZIP code area 01223. It stands on Eames Hill. The Survey maps it on the Becket quadrangle.

Washington within Berkshire County

Then and now

1886 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 111 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Washington, surveyed 1997

Topographic sheet of Washington, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

37 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

7 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Washington between 2015 and 2018, burning about 9 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 burning	5
Smoking	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
3 June 2018	Smoking	2.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
27 May 2015	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
20 April 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
17 April 2016	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 April 2015	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
13 March 2016	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
28 February 2018	Debris and open burning	1.5 acres	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 2,002 shown

Museums hold 2,002 specimens collected within 10 miles of Washington between 1834 and 1975: 1,273 Animalia, 494 Plantae, 231 Fungi, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. E. Treat, A. K. Harrison, A. M. Vail 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Bombus ternarius Say, 1837	1898	[Not Stated]	Hinsdale
Potamogeton pusillus subsp. tenuissimus (Mert. & W.D.J.Koch) K.Richt.	1900	P. B. Weatherbee
Parnassia caroliniana Michx.	1834	not recorded
Persicaria amphibia (L.) Delarbre	1835	C. A. Shurtleff	Pittsfield
Solidago patula Muhl. ex Willd.	1858	Brewer; Chickering
Homalia jamesii Schimp.	1867	unknown	Waconah Falls State Park
Homalia trichomanoides (Hedw.) Schimp.	1867	E. C. Howe
Potentilla fruticosa L.	1868	Redfield, J.H.	Pittsfield
Asplenium rhizophyllum L.	1871	Faxon, W.	Lenox
Carex communis var. communis	1874	J. H. Redfield	Borders of woods, Pittsfield. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
Euphorbia cyparissias L.	1874	Redfield, John H.	Pittsfield; [illegible].
Acer saccharum Marshall	1897	Vail, A.M.	Tyringham

All 2,002 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

2 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Washington: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Limestone, General. 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
	North Adams Lime Quarry	Limestone, General	Producer	Stratabound
	Spurr Limonite Mine	Iron	Producer	Limonite

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

15 since 2002

The National Weather Service names Washington in 15 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2023	Flood	Washington	$10,000	Flooding was reported in the Town of Washington including along Route 8 at the Town Park and on Frost Road near Washington Mountain Road.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	$10,000	no account filed
December 2023	Flood	Washington	$5,000	Depot Brook overflowed its banks across from the town park and flooded a portion of Route 8.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	A tree was downed on wires blocking Washington Mountain Road.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Trees were reported down on Frost Road.
June 2021	Flash Flood	Washington	-	There was an estimated six to eight inches of water covering Route 8 near Washington Town Park.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Several large trees were downed, blocking Washington Mountain Road.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Trees were downed on wires and on a nearby residence.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	A tree was downed on Washington Mountain Road in the Town of Washington.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	A tree was downed blocking the road.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Trees and wires were reported down blocking Upper Valley Road and Route 8 due to thunderstorm winds.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	A tree was reportedly down and blocking Washington Mountain Road in Washington due to thunderstorm winds.
August 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Multiple trees were reported down on wires in Washington due to strong thunderstorm winds.
July 2009	Hail	Washington	-	Nickel size hail was reported in Washington during a thunderstorm.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Washington	-	Trees were reported down on Summit Hill Road, approximately 3 miles north northwest of Becket, due to strong thunderstorm winds.

Every storm recorded in Berkshire 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Becket	2.9 miles	37
Camp Romaca	4.3 miles	37
Camp Wyoma	4.3 miles	37
Camp Emerson	4.7 miles	37
Hinsdale	5.0 miles	37
Camp Greylock	5.2 miles	37
Camp Lenore	5.2 miles	37
Camp Becket	5.5 miles	37

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608118. 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.