FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Mount Washington Tower Site at Alander Mountain

Berkshire County, MA tower on Alander Mountain, erected 1928, moved to Washburn Mtn (NY) in 1933 and Beebe Hill in 1963; footings and watchman's cabin remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Site lies in Mount Washington State Forest; the watchman's cabin is a campsite; the tower itself is gone

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by the Alander Mountain Trail; the watchman's cabin is on the route and the summit has old tower footings

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknown60' steel Aermotor LS-40 towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1928
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
2,239 ft (682 m)
Agency
Erected by the Taconic State Park Commission; operated by the NY State DEC or Forest Fire Control from about 1935 (the two entries differ)
Land
Unknown
Location
Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Coordinates
42.08883, −73.50267
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ma-mount-washington-tower-site-at-alander-mountain

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 3.8 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. 1928 BuiltErected by the Taconic State Park Commission for fire detection on park landSource: firetower.org
  2. 1928 First staffedFirst operated in 1928Source: firetower.org
  3. 1929 StaffedPhoto caption names observer Mervin WhitbeckSource: firetower.org
  4. 1930 FireThe area at Alander Mountain burnedSource: firetower.org
  5. 1930 RemovedDismantled and stored at Taconic State Park / the High Falls facilitySources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  6. 1930 Last staffedStaffed until 1930Source: firetower.org
  7. 1933 MovedRe-erected on Washburn Mountain in Copake Falls, NYSources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  8. 1935 EventOperation passed to the NY DEC (entry 1) or Forest Fire Control (entry 2)Sources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  9. No record between 1935 and 1963
  10. 1963 MovedMoved to Beebe Hill; November 1963 per entry 2, 1963-64 per the 2026 accountSources: firetower.org, civilizedhiking.blogspot.com
  11. No record between 1963 and 2005
  12. 2005 Condition assessmentFour footings remained at the site as of 2005Source: firetower.org
  13. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 3, 2008 (US 45)Source: firetower.org
  14. 2009 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterSecond FFLOS entry for the same tower, registered October 6, 2009 (US 544)Source: firetower.org
  15. No record between 2009 and 2026
  16. 2026 Condition assessment2026 hiking account says the four concrete footings remainSource: civilizedhiking.blogspot.com
  17. 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.

The Taconic State Park Commission put up a 60-foot Aermotor tower on Alander Mountain in 1928, to watch for fires on park land.1 The spot sits just inside Massachusetts, about a fifth of a mile from the New York border.2,1

The two register entries name different agencies.2,1 One says the New York State DEC ran the tower.2 The other says operation passed to Forest Fire Control around 1935.1

The first entry dates the start of operation to 1928 and says staffing ended in 1930.2 The second includes a 1929 photo caption that names an observer, Mervin Whitbeck.1

In 1930 the area burned, and the landowner asked for the tower to be taken down.1 Park staff took it down and put it in storage at the High Falls facility.1 In 1933 it was re-erected on Washburn Mountain in Copake Falls, New York.2 Both entries put the end of its operation at 1963.2,1 In November 1963 it was carried by helicopter to Beebe Hill and set up again.1 A 2026 hiking account dates that move to 1963 or 1964.3

The register reports that the tower no longer stands, though four footings were still at the site as of 2005.2 The 2026 hiking account says the four concrete footings remain, and it describes old tower footings at the summit.3 The original watchman's cabin still stands and is used as a campsite by Mount Washington State Forest.2 A sign on the cabin dates it to about the 1920s.3 The hiking account reached the cabin by the Alander Mountain Trail.3

  1. Alander Mountain Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/alander-mountain-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Mount Washington Tower Site at Alander Mountain, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/mount-washington-tower-site-at-alander-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Alander Mountain via Alander Mountain Trail (Mount Washington State Forest), Civilized Hiking, https://civilizedhiking.blogspot.com/2026/05/alander-mountain-via-alander-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Washington Tower Site at Alander Mountain
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, 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.