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Fire lookout · Britstol County, Massachusetts

Dighton Tower Site

Richmond Hill, Dighton MA tower first operated 1912, staffed to 1915, moved to Rehoboth in 1915 or 1916; the Long Hill tower there is the 1931 replacement.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower moved from Richmond Hill to Rehoboth in 1915 or 1916; no source we read describes the Richmond Hill site today

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknownSteel tower with 8'x8' cab and ladder; height given as 38 ft by the Forest Fire site and 28 ft by the Register and Forest Lookouts
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1912
Height
Unknown
Elevation
198 ft (60 m)
Agency
Not named in the sources read
Land
Unknown
Location
Britstol County, Massachusetts
Coordinates
41.80783, −71.12850
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ma-dighton

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1912 BuiltFirst operated in 1912 (Forest Fire site); Forest Lookouts says constructed 1912Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1915 MovedForest Fire Dighton page says moved to Rehoboth in 1915; Register, Forest Lookouts and Rehoboth Tower Site page say 1916Source: firetower.org
  3. 1915 Last staffedStaffed until 1915 and discontinued that September (Forest Fire site)Source: firetower.org
  4. 1916 MovedMoved to Great Meadow Hill in Rehoboth; Rehoboth Tower Site page says first operated there in 1916 after the move from DightonSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1916 and 1931
  6. 1931 Replaced by a new structureNew 68-foot tower built on Great Meadow Hill to replace the older oneSources: firetower.org, nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1931 and 1955
  8. 1955 MovedRegister says the Army requested the move; Forest Fire Rehoboth page says the Army ordered the tower removed; the 1931 tower was rebuilt on Long HillSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  9. No record between 1955 and 2008
  10. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered September 3, 2008 (Forest Fire site)Source: firetower.org
  11. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 lookout on Richmond Hill in Dighton, Massachusetts, began operating in 1912.1,2 The Forest Fire Lookout site describes a 38-foot steel tower with an 8-by-8-foot cab and a ladder, and says a quarter mile of telephone line ran out to it.1 The National Historic Lookout Register and the Forest Lookouts page both describe the first tower as 28 feet tall, so the sources disagree on its height.3,2

The tower was staffed until 1915, and the Forest Fire site says it was discontinued that September.1

The tower did not stay on Richmond Hill. The Forest Fire site says the tower went to Rehoboth in 1915.1 The Register and the Forest Lookouts page date the move to 1916 and place the structure on Great Meadow Hill.3,2 The Forest Fire site's Rehoboth page also dates the tower's first operation there to 1916, after its move from Dighton.4

In 1931 a new 68-foot tower replaced the older one on Great Meadow Hill.4 In 1955 the Army asked for the 1931 tower to be moved, and it was rebuilt on Long Hill.3 The Forest Fire site says the Army ordered the tower removed, citing national security.4

Today the tower on Long Hill is the 1931 structure, not the 1912 tower from Richmond Hill.3,4 No source we read describes what remains on Richmond Hill today, or whether the site is open to the public.

  1. Dighton Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/dighton-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Richmond Hill, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/richmond-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Rehoboth Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ma/rehoboth-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Rehoboth Tower Site #1, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/rehoboth-tower-site-1/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dighton Tower Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, status, register numbers, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.