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Fire lookout · Essex County, Massachusetts

Georgetown Fire Tower

Also known as Baldpate Hill

Baldpate Hill lookout in Georgetown, first operated in 1912; the current tower dates to 1969 or 1970 and is listed as standing and active.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. FFLA says the tower sits on private property; it is an active state tower, and no public visiting or rental information was found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerCurrent tower with a 10x10-foot cab and a catwalk on the roof (registry); FFLA describes a 68-foot Aermotor towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1912
Height
Unknown
Elevation
347 ft (106 m)
Agency
Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control
Land
Unknown
Location
Essex County, Massachusetts
Coordinates
42.70778, −71.01528
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ma-georgetown

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.

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

History

Then and now

  1. 1912 BuiltFirst tower; first date of operation August 1, 1912; 38 ft per FFLA, 30 ft per registrySources: firelookout.ipage.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1917 BuiltRegistry dates a 40-foot tower on Baldpate Hill to 1917; FFLA says a 40-foot Acushnet tower replaced the original in 1938Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1925 AlteredNew cabSource: firelookout.ipage.com
  4. 1938 Replaced by a new structureOriginal tower replaced with an old 40-foot tower from AcushnetSource: firelookout.ipage.com
  5. 1944 AlteredNew cab and access roadSource: firelookout.ipage.com
  6. No record between 1944 and 1969
  7. 1969 BuiltCurrent tower built by the state Bureau of Forest Fire Control; FFLA dates it to 1970 and gives 68 ftSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.ipage.com
  8. No record between 1969 and 2004
  9. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 30, 2004 as US 589, MA 16; nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2016 EventState listing (last updated 5/8/2016) shows the tower standing and activeSource: firelookout.ipage.com
  11. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The first lookout on Baldpate Hill in Georgetown began operating on August 1, 1912, according to the Forest Fire Lookout Association.1 The sources do not agree on that first structure. The association gives the first tower as 38 feet tall, with a spiral staircase and a cab measuring 12 feet square.1 The registry puts the first tower at 30 feet, with a spiral stair and a cab of the same size, and says it was in use until 1937.2 The association adds that the tower sits on private property, that the landowner gave $200 toward it, and that a two-mile phone line was built out to it.1

The association says a new cab went on in 1925.1 In 1938 the original was replaced by a used 40-foot tower that came from Acushnet, and a new cab and access road followed in 1944.1 The registry instead dates a 40-foot tower on nearby Baldpate Hill to 1917, so the two accounts do not match.2 I found no staffing history for the tower in these sources.

The registry says the current tower went up in 1969, built by the state Bureau of Forest Fire Control. It is 70 feet tall and has a 10-by-10-foot cab, which the registry describes as unusual because of a catwalk on its roof.2 The association dates the current tower to 1970 and gives 68 feet, with a chain-link security fence around it.1

The state listing, last updated in May 2016, shows the tower as standing and active.3 The association also says the state still uses it.1 The association says it stands on private land.1 I found no visiting or rental information. The state says its fire observation towers are not for public access.4 Please don't climb or visit it without permission from the landowner and the Bureau.

  1. Massachusetts Fire Towers - Georgetown, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.ipage.com/lookouts/ma/georgetown.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Georgetown Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ma/georgetown-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Massachusetts Fire Towers - State Listing Page, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.ipage.com/lookouts/ma/mass.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Section 15. Fire Observation Towers, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (mass.gov), https://www.mass.gov/doc/section-15-fire-observation-towers/download (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Georgetown Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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, agency, access, 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

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