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

Westbrook, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Hatfield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01066. It stands on The Rocks. The Survey maps it on the Williamsburg quadrangle.

Westbrook within Hampshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1990

The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Westbrook, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of Westbrook, surveyed 1885

Compare 1885 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

42 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Hatfield town, in the words of 1898.

1898, Hatfield Town

Introduction Xix

The letter referred to is in this volume. It is from Rev. Solomon Stoddard, then minister at Northampton, dated Sept. 15, 1675. It is a long letter, reciting minutely the movements of the contending forces in the valley. Stoddard tells of the disarming of the near-by Indians, August 24th, the affair at Sugar Loaf, August 25th, and says, "We heard no more of the Indians till the first of September, when they shot down a garrison soldier at Pocumtuck, that was looking after his horse, and ran violently up into the town, many people having scarcely time enough to get into the garrison: that day they burnt most of their houses and barns, the garrisons not being strong enough to sally out upon them, but killed two of their men from their forts." He gives a full account of the tragic events which accompanied the distruction of Northfield, September 2-6; the second attack on Deerfield September 12th; the relief expedition, September 13th, and the arrival of Captain Moseley at Hadley, September 14th.

Read the rest of this passage

Fires nearby

41 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Westbrook between 2002 and 2020, burning about 42 acres in total. 4 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 burning15
Recreation and ceremony8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined8
Equipment and vehicle use5
Natural4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

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
27 August 2016Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
19 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
8 July 2004Naturalunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
29 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 June 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
17 June 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 May 2020Debris and open burning3.7 acresMassachusetts 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 10,546 shown

Museums hold 10,546 specimens collected within 10 miles of Westbrook between 1781 and 1975: 3,960 Animalia, 3,925 Plantae, 2,424 Fungi, 133 Chromista, 90 Protozoa, 14 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A V Osmun, A., A. Allen 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 Ptilidium pulcherrimum, not of this specimenPtilidium pulcherrimum (Weber) Hampe1822Ebenezer Emmons
A photograph of the species Ranunculus ambigens, not of this specimenRanunculus ambigens S.Watson1831S. Shurtleff
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.
A photograph of the species Pogonia ophioglossoides, not of this specimenPogonia ophioglossoides (L.) Ker Gawl.1838L. DeWetteNorthampton.
A photograph of the species Dactylis glomerata, not of this specimenDactylis glomerata L.1839S J Ewer

All 10,546 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 28 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 28 workings within 5 miles of Westbrook: 8 prospects, 7 occurrences, 6 producers, 6 past producers. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Silver, Brick Clay, Manganese. 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
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast ProducerVein
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Zinc, LeadProducerBarite, Galena, Sphalerite
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast Producer
Whately - Conway Lead VeinsSilver, LeadOccurrenceGalena
Whately - Williamsburg Lead VeinsLead, ManganeseOccurrenceGalena
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitClayPast Producer
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay

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
North Hatfield0.4 miles42
Bradstreet2.0 miles42
West Hatfield2.9 miles42
North Hadley3.1 miles42
Hatfield3.3 miles44
Russellville3.4 miles42
Laurel Park3.8 miles42
North Farms4.0 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608684. 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.