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

Williamsburg, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Williamsburg town. It lies in ZIP code area 01096. It stands on East Branch Mill River. The Survey maps it on the Williamsburg quadrangle.

Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg, surveyed 1990
Topographic sheet of Williamsburg, 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.

Fires nearby

28 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Williamsburg between 2015 and 2020, burning about 19 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
Equipment and vehicle use10
Debris and open burning7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Natural4
Recreation and ceremony1

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
11 September 2015Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 August 2016Naturalunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 August 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
31 July 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 June 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 May 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 May 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.2 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 2,970 shown

Museums hold 2,970 specimens collected within 10 miles of Williamsburg between 1822 and 1975: 1,729 Plantae, 672 Animalia, 542 Fungi, 17 Protozoa, 8 Chromista, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A V Osmun, A., 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 Camissonia LinkCamissonia Link1898B. L. Robinson
Specimen of Buellia disciformis (Fr.) MuddBuellia disciformis (Fr.) Mudd1900George P. ClintonHammond Pond
Specimen of Graphis scripta (L.) Ach.Graphis scripta (L.) Ach.1900George P. ClintonHammond Pond
A photograph of the species Porella platyphylloidea, not of this specimenPorella platyphylloidea (Schwein.) Lindb.1822EmmonsNorwich
A photograph of the species Carex pauciflora, not of this specimenCarex pauciflora Lightf.1825Collector unspecifiedAshfield. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
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 Meleagris gallopavo, not of this specimenMeleagris gallopavo silvestris Vieillot, 18171847William D. WhitneyMount Tom
A photograph of the species Veratrum viride, not of this specimenVeratrum viride subsp. viride1847not recordedBrunswick and Goshen
A photograph of the species Stellaria graminea, not of this specimenStellaria graminea L.1849not recorded
A photograph of the species Drymocallis arguta, not of this specimenDrymocallis arguta (Pursh) Rydb.1851Hexamer, A.C.; Maier, F.W.Mount Holyolke

All 2,970 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 25 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 25 workings within 5 miles of Williamsburg: 9 occurrences, 7 prospects, 5 past producers, 4 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Lead, Silver, Lead, Silver, Iron. 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
Argentine Galena VeinSilver, LeadOccurrenceGalena
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast ProducerVein
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Zinc, LeadProducerBarite, Galena, Sphalerite
Hatfield Lead MineBarium-Barite, Lead, ZincPast Producer
Whately - Williamsburg Lead VeinsLead, ManganeseOccurrenceGalena
Bog Iron OccurrenceIronOccurrence
Bog Iron OccurrenceIronOccurrence
Granite Rock QuarryStone, DimensionProducer
Granite Rock QuarryGranitePast Producer
Granite Rock QuarryStone, DimensionProducer

Every working recorded in Hampshire County

Storms nearby

10 since 1996

The National Weather Service names Williamsburg in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 4 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning. 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
August 1996LightningWilliamsburg1 hurt, $20,000no account filed
June 2006LightningWilliamsburg$10,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindWilliamsburg$8,000Trees and wires on Route 9 were downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2016Thunderstorm WindWilliamsburg$5,000A tree was downed onto Route 9 near Florence Road.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindWilliamsburg$5,000A tree on Hyde Hill Road was downed by thunderstorm winds.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindWilliamsburg$1,000In Williamsburg, wires and a utility pole were down on Mountain St at Laural Rd.
May 2017HailWilliamsburg-At 537 PM EST, hail in Williamsburg was reported as being between Dime size and Nickel size.
May 2017HailWilliamsburg-At 543 PM EST, quarter size hail was reported in Williamsburg.
June 2008HailWilliamsburg-no account filed
August 1996HailWilliamsburg-no account filed

Every storm 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
Williamsburg Station0.8 miles42
Searsville1.0 miles42
Haydenville2.0 miles42
Leeds3.3 miles42
North Farms3.7 miles42
Bisbee Mill4.9 miles37
Goshen4.9 miles38
Florence5.0 miles42

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 608694. 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.