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Fire lookout · Cape May County, New Jersey

Dias Creek Station Fire Tower

Cape May County lookout in Middle Township, built 1944 and raised to 100 feet in 1970; the registry says it was recently put back into service.

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 with 7x7 foot metal cab, raised to 100 feet in 1970The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1944
Height
98 ft (30.0 m)
Elevation
13 ft (4 m)
Agency
New Jersey Forest Fire Service
Land
State land
Location
Cape May County, New Jersey
Coordinates
39.10452, −74.87832
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nj-dias-creek

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

  1. 1944 Built60-foot Aermotor with 7x7 foot metal cab per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1944 and 1968
  3. 1968 AlteredJune 24, 1968 state bid notice for structural steel extension of the Dias Creek tower on Route 47Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1970 AlteredRaised to 100 feet per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1970 and 2004
  6. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered March 15, 2004 per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  7. 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.

Dias Creek Station stands in Middle Township, Cape May County.1,2 The registry calls it the southernmost tower in New Jersey.3

The registry dates the tower to 1944, when a 60-foot Aermotor with a metal cab measuring 7 by 7 feet went up.3 A June 24, 1968 state bid notice for structural steel to extend the Dias Creek lookout tower places it on Route 47.2 The registry says the tower was raised to 100 feet in 1970.3 Wikipedia's state list gives the height as 100 feet, or 30 meters.1

The registry's data box gives an elevation of 13 feet (4 meters), though its text says 15 feet above sea level and calls it the lowest lookout in the state.3 Wikipedia gives the same 13 feet (4.0 meters).1

The registry says the tower has recently been put back into service, because the area is growing fast and needs quick fire detection.3 It does not give a date for that return. The registry recorded the site on March 15, 2004.3

I did not find notable fires connected with this tower in the sources I read. Access rules are not described either, so check with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service before going.

  1. List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Jersey_Forest_Fire_Service_fire_towers (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Dias Creek - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/dias-creek.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Dias Creek Station Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/dias-creek-station-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dias Creek Station 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, 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. Wikipedia: List of New Jersey Forest Fire Service fire towers Gave us: type, height, ownership, links Wikipedia (NJFFS fire tower list) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia). Facts only (register numbers, elevation, height, division, coordinates); article prose/notes not reproduced. Photos are Wikimedia Commons files, each with its own licence on its file page. · retrieved 4 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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.