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

White Oaks, Massachusetts

40 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Williamstown town. It lies in ZIP code area 01267. It stands on Mason Hill. The Survey maps it on the Williamstown quadrangle.

White Oaks 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 White Oaks, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of White Oaks, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

40 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

19 since 2007

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of White Oaks between 2007 and 2018, burning about 280 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
Debris and open burning8
Recreation and ceremony4
Smoking3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Natural1

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 2007Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
24 July 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 July 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 May 2016Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 May 2015Debris and open burning2.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
11 May 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
29 April 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined272 acresAppalachian National Scenic TrailCLARKSBURG FIRE (MA)
28 April 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 791 shown

Museums hold 791 specimens collected within 10 miles of White Oaks between 1828 and 1975: 371 Plantae, 269 Animalia, 135 Fungi, 9 Protozoa, 6 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A K Harrison, A Schwartz, A. Cowee 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 Antennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Richardson, 1823Antennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Richardson, 18231898J. R. Churchill
Specimen of Carex pensylvanica Lam.Carex pensylvanica Lam.1898J. R. Churchill
Specimen of Lycopodium annotinum var. pungens (Desv.) La Pylaie ex Desv.Lycopodium annotinum var. pungens (Desv.) La Pylaie ex Desv.1898Kofoid, C.A.North Adams.
A photograph of the species Carex aestivalis, not of this specimenCarex aestivalis M.A.Curtis ex A.Gray1828Collector unknownSaddle Mountain, near Williamstown.
A photograph of the species Carex emmonsii, not of this specimenCarex emmonsii var. muhlenbergii (A.Gray ex Torrey) Rettig1828Collector unspecifiedWilliamstown. [Inferred locality from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Cystopteris bulbifera, not of this specimenCystopteris bulbifera (L.) Bernh.1828Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Dryopteris goldiana, not of this specimenDryopteris goldiana (Hook. ex Goldie) A.Gray1828Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Fraxinus americana, not of this specimenFraxinus americana L.1828J. Torrey
Jamesoniella autumnalis (DC.) Steph.1828Ebenezer Emmons
A photograph of the species Tilia americana, not of this specimenTilia americana L.1828Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Scorzoneroides autumnalis, not of this specimenScorzoneroides autumnalis (L.) Moench1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Spiraea tomentosa, not of this specimenSpiraea tomentosa L.1850not recorded

All 791 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 White Oaks: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Harwood D Moore Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Simonds Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Storms nearby

3 since 2009

The National Weather Service names White Oaks in 3 storm reports between 2009 and 2013: 2 flood, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2013Flash FloodWhite Oaks-Several locations along Route 7 in Williamstown experienced flash flooding due to heavy rainfall. In addition, several other local roads in Williamstown were impacted by flood waters as well.
August 2011FloodWhite Oaks-Major flooding occurred on the Hoosic River. The Williamstown river gage located on the left bank 0.3 miles downstream from Sherman Brook and 2.7 miles east of the junction of U.S. Highway 7 and State Highway 2 in Williamstown exceeded its 9 foot flood stage at 8:30 am EST on August 28th, its 11 foot moderate flood stage at 10:16 am, its 13 foot major stage at 11:43 am, crested at 13.75 feet at 2:15 pm, and fell below flood stage at 3:06 am on August 29th.
October 2009FloodWhite Oaks-Route 7 in Williamstowm was reported closed due to water from the Broad Brook flowing over a bridge.

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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Hemlock Brook Estates0.7 miles40
Williamstown1.3 miles40
Meadowvale2.2 miles40
Blackinton2.5 miles40
Greylock3.4 miles40
Brayton Hill3.7 miles40
Hemlock Brook (historical)3.7 miles40
Sweets Corner3.7 miles40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 598529. 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.