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Fire lookout · York County, Maine

Mount Hope Fire Tower

60-foot Aermotor steel tower near Sanford, Maine, erected 1962 after a move from Sabattus Mountain; volunteer-staffed, and listed as active in 2021.

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
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1962
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
688 ft (210 m)
Agency
Maine Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
York County, Maine
Coordinates
43.41822, −70.79997
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-me-mount-hope

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. 1939 EventSun Journal table dates the tower at Sabattus Mountain, Lovell, to 1939 before it was moved to Mount HopeSources: hmdb.org, sunjournal.com
  2. No record between 1939 and 1962
  3. 1962 BuiltErected at Mount Hope as a steel Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cabSources: nhlr.org, hmdb.org
  4. 1962 Replaced by a new structureReplaced a 60-foot wooden western tower with live-in cab on nearby Ridley HillSources: nhlr.org, hmdb.org
  5. No record between 1962 and 1994
  6. 1994 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 18, 1994 as US 95, ME 5Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2000 StaffedFirehouse article reports the tower continues to be staffed by volunteersSource: firehouse.com
  8. No record between 2000 and 2021
  9. 2021 Condition assessmentSun Journal table counts Mount Hope among two standing, active towers in MaineSource: sunjournal.com
  10. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Hope is a hilltop near Sanford in York County, Maine.1 The Maine Forest Service erected a 60-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab there in 1962.1,2 It replaced a wooden tower on nearby Ridley Hill, where the state had lost its lease.1,2

The steel tower had an earlier home.3 A Lewiston Sun Journal table dates the tower at Sabattus Mountain in Lovell to 1939, and says it was disassembled in 1962 and moved to Mount Hope.3,2 The sources disagree on the hilltop's elevation: the register gives 688 feet (210 metres), while the marker gives 600 feet.1,2

Volunteers have kept the lookout staffed.1 The register names the Maine Forest Service and the Sanford Fire Department as cooperators, and says the tower is staffed each year by volunteers.1 A 2000 article on York County's volunteer lookouts said the tower "continues to be staffed by volunteers."4 A historical marker also honours Ranger Anna Woodward of Cape Neddick, who served in the lookout for more than two decades.2

A 2021 Sun Journal table counted Mount Hope as one of two standing, active towers in Maine.3 I found no published visiting arrangements for the tower, and the sources I read record no notable fires at this site.

  1. Mount Hope Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/me/mount-hope-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Hope Fire Tower Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=261063 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Maine fire towers: By the numbers, Lewiston Sun Journal, https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/04/25/maine-fire-towers-by-the-numbers/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. The Volunteer Fire Lookouts Of Maine's York County, Firehouse, https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/article/10545477/the-volunteer-fire-lookouts-of-maines-york-county (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Hope 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, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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 Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. 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
  4. 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.