NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — An earthquake in northern New Jersey this morning could be felt all throughout the Northeast, from Augusta, Maine, to Washington, D.C., to Buffalo, N.Y.
The magnitude 4.8 quake was registered by the U.S. Geological Survey at 10:23 on Friday morning near Tewksbury Township, a town of about 6,000 west of New York City. There are reports the epicenter was in Lebanon, a smaller nearby community.
The vibration in North Berkshire went on for about 20 seconds and was strong enough to shake the leaves on the office plants in the iBerkshires office.
Responses to the USGS were piling in within 15 minutes of the quake, with more than 110,000 in less than an hour. News reports in Philadelphia said it shattered a pane of glass in Center City and sent hundreds into the street. The mayor's office in New York said the there were no immediate reports of any major impacts.
The USGS reports the quake occurred about 3 miles below the surface.
The last major earthquake felt in the Berkshires was on June 23, 2010, when a 5.0 centered new Ottawa sent a shudder along the Atlantic Coast and as far west as Cleveland. That one had rattle bottles at Billmont's Country Store in Stamford, Vt., and shook up town employees in Williamstown.
A smaller quake, a 4.0, hit in 2012 in Hollis Center, Maine, and sent a shiver through the Berkshires.
News12 in New Jersey spoke with Bret Bennington, chair of the Geology Department at Hofstra University, who said the quake was an uncommon but not unexpected event and typical for this region.
"We actually live in a little bit of a seismic zone so we can expect a 5 earthquake once every 100 years or so," he said, speculating the quake occurred along the Ramapo Fault, a major fault line along the Appalachians. He did not anticipate any major damage.
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MCLA in Talks With Anonymous Donor for Art Museum, Art Lab
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Andre Lynch, the new vice provost for institutional equity and belonging, introduces himself to the trustees, some of whom were participating remotely.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts may be in line for up to a $10 million donation that will include a campus art museum.
President Jamie Birge told the board of trustees on Thursday that the college has been in discussions for the last couple years with a donor who wishes at this point to remain anonymous.
"It's a donor that has a history of working with public liberal arts institutions to advance the arts that those institutions," he said. "This donor would like to talk with us or has been talking with us about creating art museum and an art lab on campus."
The Fine and Performing Arts Department will have input, the president continued. "We want to make sure that it's a facility that supports that teaching and learning dynamic as well as responding to what's the interest of donor."
The college integrated into the local arts community back in 2005 with the opening of Gallery 51 on Main Street that later expanded with an art lab next door. The gallery under the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center had been the catalyst for the former Downstreet Art initiative; its participation has fallen off dramatically with changes in leadership and the pandemic.
This new initiative, should it come to pass, would create a facility on MCLA Foundation property adjacent to the campus. The donor and the foundation have already split the cost of a study.
"We conducted that study to look at what approximately a 6,500-square-foot facility would look like," said Birge. "How we would staff the gallery and lab, how can we use this lab space for fine and performing arts."
President Jamie Birge told the board of trustees on Thursday that the college has been in discussions for the last couple years with a donor who wishes at this point to remain anonymous.
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