FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Sarasota County, Florida

Venetia

Florida Venetia tower near Venice, built 1956 per a 1969 paper, staffed to 1988, dismantled March 2019 and moved to Upper Esopus, NY; no source describes the Venice site now.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Upper Esopus

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Dismantled in March 2019 and taken to the Catskills Visitor Center in Mount Tremper, NY, where it opened as the Upper Esopus Fire Tower.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 1988)

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a towerSteel observation tower with 106 steps (1969 and 1988 newspapers); a 2019 project page calls it an MC-39 modelThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1956
Height
85 ft (25.9 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Florida Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Sarasota County, Florida
Coordinates
27.04220, −82.40170
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-fl-venetia

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 2.9 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1952 First staffedMargie and Charles Knauff had been working the tower since 1952, per the 1969 Tampa TribuneSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1956 BuiltConstructed in 1956 per the 1969 Tampa Tribune; a 2019 project page estimates the mid-1940s insteadSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, galvanizeit.org
  3. No record between 1956 and 1974
  4. 1974 EventDistrict forester said the tower would lose its full-time spotter in November 1974Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1975 EventDivision spokesman said the tower would not close; federal civil-service jobs money restored full staffingSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1988 StaffedA state forest ranger was still climbing the tower to watch for fires, per a 1988 Tampa Tribune articleSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1988 and 2019
  8. 2019 MovedBought by Davana LLC for $1,000; opened in October 2019 as the Upper Esopus Fire Tower at the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Visitor CenterSource: galvanizeit.org
  9. 2019 RemovedDismantled for removal in March 2019; parts shipped to New YorkSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, galvanizeit.org
  10. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Upper Esopus.Source: FFLA
  11. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Venetia fire tower stood near Venice in Sarasota County, Florida, where the state Division of Forestry used it to spot fires.1 A 1969 Tampa newspaper says it was constructed in 1956, and that a couple, Margie and Charles "Pete" Knauff, had been working it since 1952.1 The articles disagree on the road. One puts the tower on US 41 between Venice and Englewood, and a 1974 report puts it on State Road 775, about four miles south of Venice.1

In October 1974 the district forester said the tower would lose its full-time spotter that November. In February 1975 a Division spokesman said the tower would stay open, and the district forester credited federal civil-service jobs money with restoring full staffing.1 In 1988 a state forest ranger was still climbing the 106 steps to watch for fires.1

The newspapers describe a tower 85 feet high with 106 steps.1 A project page from a galvanizing company calls it an MC-39 model, says it was hot-dip galvanized in the 1940s, and gives its height as 80 feet.2 That page also guesses it was first built around 1945 and says it was decommissioned in the 1970s. Those dates do not fit the 1956 construction date or the 1988 report of a staffed tower, so this story follows the newspapers.1,2

The tower was dismantled for removal in March 2019, and its parts were shipped to New York.1 Davana LLC, a restoration firm, bought it for $1,000 and aimed to place it at the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Visitor Center in Mount Tremper.2 The state opened it there as the Upper Esopus Fire Tower in October 2019.2

No source we found describes what, if anything, remains at the Venice site, or whether that place is open to the public. The company's page says the land and tower were sold to a private party, and that housing built from the 1960s onward now surrounds the tower site.2 The tower itself left that site in 2019.1

  1. Venetia - Forest Lookouts (Sarasota County, Florida), Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/venetia.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Venetia/Upper Esopus Fire Tower, Galvanize It project gallery, https://galvanizeit.org/project-gallery/venetia-fire-tower-visitor-center (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.