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Fire lookout · Norfolk County, Massachusetts

Foxboro Tower Site

Also known as High Rock (Foxboro)

High Rock tower above Foxborough: CCC-built 60-foot tower from 1934, moved to the Dover site in 1951; SEMRECC's history covers the site of its headquarters but does not say which site that is.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Left High Rock in 1951 and was moved to the Dover site (SEMRECC, FFLOS). The Forest Lookouts listing marks it removed.

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
Cab on a tower60-foot Aermotor tower built by CCC crews in 1934The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
440 ft (134 m)
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Coordinates
42.06083, −71.28717
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ma-foxboro

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1934 BuiltCCC built the 60-foot Aermotor tower at High Rock; phone, power and a road were put in the same yearSources: semrecc.gov, firetower.org
  2. 1934 EventPlanned observer post: cab to be occupied April to October the next year, per a quoted accountSource: semrecc.gov
  3. No record between 1934 and 1951
  4. 1951 MovedLand under the tower sold to AT&T; tower moved to replace an inactive tower site in DoverSources: semrecc.gov, firetower.org
  5. 1953 EventPresent 60-foot steel tower erected at the Dover site, now the MacAllester Fire TowerSource: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1953 and 1984
  7. 1984 DestroyedThe tower moved from Foxborough to Dover was destroyed by lightning and then rebuilt (SEMRECC)Source: semrecc.gov
  8. No record between 1984 and 2008
  9. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 3, 2008Source: firetower.org
  10. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

High Rock, at the summit of what is now F. Gilbert Hills State Forest, was the spot the state picked for a fire watch tower as part of its High Rock Reserve park.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps built a 60-foot Aermotor tower there in 1934, and phone, power and a road went in the same year.1,2

A quoted account on SEMRECC's history page said that from April to October of the following year, one observer would staff the glass-enclosed cab, spotting forest fires and telling the fire crews where each blaze was.1

In 1951 AT&T bought the land under the tower, and the tower was moved to take the place of an older, inactive tower site in Dover.1,2 SEMRECC says a lightning strike destroyed the moved tower in 1984, and it was later rebuilt.1 The Dover site now bears the name of the MacAllester Fire Tower, whose present 60-foot steel tower went up in 1953.3 The Forest Lookouts listing marks the High Rock tower as removed.4

SEMRECC's building history covers the site and building where its headquarters stands today, but it does not say which site that is.1 An undated long-lines.com page about the High Rock AT&T site says its tower has a Nextel antenna system and calls the site inactive.5 No source we read describes what remains of the 1934 lookout cab or its footings.1,2

  1. Building Project, SEMRECC, https://www.semrecc.gov/building (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Foxboro Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/foxboro-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. MacAllester Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ma/macallester-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. High Rock, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/high-rock2.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. High Rock (Foxboro) - Massachusetts, Long Lines, https://long-lines.com/viewsite/6410 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Foxboro 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, type, what it is built of, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.