Fire lookout · Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Sandwich Fire Tower
Also known as Sandwich/Camp Edwards Army Base #1 Tower Site
Present 75-foot steel fire tower on Telegraph Hill, Shawme-Crowell State Forest; built 1966 after a 1934 CCC tower; NHLR-registered 2004. FFLOS US 53 is a separate tower.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- sources disagree
- Type
- Cab on a tower75-foot steel tower with 10 by 10 foot wooden cab, built 1966 on Telegraph Hill, replacing the 1934 CCC 60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot steel cabThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 75 ft (22.9 m)
- Elevation
- 62 ft (19 m)
- Agency
- Mass. Bureau of Forest Fire Control
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Barnstable County, Massachusetts
- Coordinates
- 41.73363, −70.48629 sources disagree
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ma-sandwich-2
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.
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
- 1934 BuiltFirst Sandwich fire tower constructed by the CCC: 60-foot Aermotor tower with 7x7 steel cab, on Shawme-Crowell State ForestSource: nhlr.org
- 1938 FireFire started on a military reservation (the blog does not name Camp Edwards) and spread into Shawme State Forest; three men died; 3,000 to 4,000 acres burnedSource: fostasandwich.com
- 1938 EventSelectman George A. Mooney held a meeting on May 6, 1938 to agree who should be held responsible for the fireSource: fostasandwich.com
- No record between 1938 and 1966
- 1966 BuiltPresent 75-foot steel tower with 10x10 wooden cab built on Telegraph Hill, replacing the 1934 tower (NHLR 'Built' field: 1966)Source: nhlr.org
- No record between 1966 and 2004
- 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 15, 2004 as US 623, MA 34; nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: nhlr.org
- 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 4, 2008Source: FFLOS register entry
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Sandwich Fire Tower stands on Telegraph Hill, at 402 Route 130 within the Shawme-Crowell State Forest.1 The register lists it in Barnstable County, Massachusetts.2
The Civilian Conservation Corps built the first Sandwich tower in 1934, in what is now the state forest. The first tower was a 60-foot Aermotor design with a steel cab measuring 7 by 7 feet.2 The 1966 replacement is the current 75-foot steel tower, whose wooden cab measures 10 by 10 feet.2 The sources read do not say whether the 1934 tower was affected by the fire described below.
In 1938 a fire started on a military reservation and spread into the state forest. Three men died, and the fire burned an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 acres.3 On May 6, 1938, Selectman George A. Mooney held a meeting that tried to settle who should be held responsible.3
A different structure is easy to confuse with this one. The Former Fire Lookout Sites entry for US 53, "Sandwich/Camp Edwards Army Base #1 Tower Site," describes a 35-foot wooden tower on the army base. It operated from 1938 to 1960, locating fires that began on the firing range, and it was removed once the range shut.4 That entry's 2008 registration does not describe the Telegraph Hill tower.4,2
The Telegraph Hill tower was registered on December 15, 2004, as US 623, MA 34, nominated by Henry Isenberg.2
A Massachusetts state section on fire observation towers lists the Sandwich Fire Observation Tower among the towers on the Cape and Islands.1 The part of that document I read says nothing about staffing, public access or the tower's condition. Do not climb the tower, and check with the state before any visit.
An OpenStreetMap point named Sandwich Fire Tower sits several kilometers from the register's coordinates, so this story does not use it.5,2
- Section 15. Fire Observation Towers, Massachusetts (mass.gov), https://www.mass.gov/doc/section-15-fire-observation-towers/download (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Sandwich Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ma/sandwich-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- The 1938 Sandwich Forest Fire, fostasandwich.com, https://www.fostasandwich.com/post/the-1938-sandwich-forest-fire (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Sandwich/Camp Edwards Army Base #1 Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ma/sandwichcamp-edwards-army-base-1-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Node: Sandwich Fire Tower (12215345768), OpenStreetMap, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/12215345768 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Where sources disagree
We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.
Sources disagree on the location by 7.9 km (4.9 mi).
- OpenStreetMap: 41.73363, −70.48629
- NHLR: 41.67778, −70.42833
The map uses the position from OpenStreetMap.
Sources disagree on whether it still stands.
- NHLR: Standing
- FFLOS: Gone
- OpenStreetMap: Standing
NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, 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
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: location, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 623 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLOS register entry US 53 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- The 1938 Sandwich Forest Fire (fostasandwich.com) (opens another site)
- Section 15. Fire Observation Towers (Mass.gov) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 12215345768 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.