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Fire lookout · Essex County, New York

Belfry Fire Tower

Also known as Belfry Mountain

A 1917 47-ft steel Aermotor LS40 replaced a 1912 wooden station tower on Belfry Mountain; fire watch ended 1988, state closure followed; still standing with radio gear.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Site is accessible to the public on a DEC-recommended trail. No source confirms the tower is open for climbing; it was officially closed as a fire tower in 1989.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Service road from the Dalton Hill Road trailhead, about 0.3 to 0.4 mile (sources differ), in the Hammond Pond Wild Forest
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower47-foot steel Aermotor LS40 tower, replacing a 1912 wooden towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1912
Height
47 ft (14.3 m)
Elevation
1,858 ft (566 m)
Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Essex County, New York
Coordinates
44.09785, −73.54789
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-belfry

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 BuiltConservation Commission established a lookout station with a wooden towerSources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, adirondackexplorer.org
  2. 1917 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. 1917 Replaced by a new structureThe wooden tower was replaced by a 47-foot steel Aermotor LS40 that still stands. NHLR gives 1917 as the build year.Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  4. No record between 1917 and 1933
  5. 1933 EventState bought a half-acre tract, including the fire tower and cabin site, from George and Julia Jacobs for $1,000Sources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, adirondackexplorer.org
  6. No record between 1933 and 1988
  7. 1988 Last staffedStaffed and used for fire observation until 1988; Wikipedia says taken out of service that yearSources: adirondackexplorer.org, en.wikipedia.org, streamandsteeple.com
  8. 1989 ClosedOfficially closed in early 1989 by DEC (Wikipedia, Stream & Steeple). NHLR says it was closed in 1988.Sources: en.wikipedia.org, streamandsteeple.com, nhlr.org
  9. No record between 1989 and 2017
  10. 2017 Condition assessmentNHLR visit report dated February 20, 2017: not staffed, cab glass broken, needs paint, graffiti, good structural conditionSource: nhlr.org
  11. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 23, 2017 as US 1173, NY 38; nominated by Laurie RankinSource: nhlr.org
  12. 2021 RestoredFFLA volunteers made two trips, with DEC permission, to cover graffiti in the Belfry tower cab (reported).Source: nysffla.org
  13. 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.

Belfry Mountain rises in the Town of Moriah in Essex County, New York, near the old iron-mining villages of Mineville and Witherbee.1 The state Conservation Commission set up a lookout station on the summit in 1912, with a wooden tower.2,3,4 In 1917 the Commission replaced that tower with a 47-foot steel Aermotor LS40, the tower that stands there today.5,2,4

In 1933 the state bought a half-acre tract on the peak from George and Julia Jacobs for $1,000, and the fire tower and its cabin sit on that land.3,1

Fire observers worked from the tower until 1988.4 Wikipedia and Stream & Steeple both say it went out of service that year and that the Department of Environmental Conservation officially closed it in early 1989.2,6 The National Historic Lookout Register says it was closed in 1988, so the sources do not agree on the exact date.5

The NHLR recorded the tower on January 23, 2017, on a nomination by Laurie Rankin.5 A visit report dated February 20, 2017, found the tower not staffed, its cab glass not intact, and its paint and graffiti in need of attention, though the structure itself was rated in good condition.5 The tower also carries radio equipment owned by the state environmental agency, the State Police and Essex County.5,6

Visiting is on foot.4,1 The Adirondack Explorer describes a DEC-recommended trail that starts at Dalton Hill Road, puts the walk at 0.3 mile, and calls the route part of the Hammond Pond Wild Forest.4 A different Explorer piece gives the hike as 0.4 mile, so the distance is not settled.4,1 Stream & Steeple says the tower is still standing and accessible to the public, but places it on private land, which does not match the state land described elsewhere.6 Stream & Steeple also lists Belfry in a challenge that requires hikers to climb fire tower summits, yet no source says the state has opened the tower to climbers.6 Because it was officially closed as a fire tower, treat it as closed unless the DEC says otherwise.2

  1. Belfry Mountain: Beyond the Fire Tower, Adirondack Explorer, https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/communities/history/historical-profile-belfry-mountain-beyond-the-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Belfry Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfry_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Belfry Mountain, Forest Lookouts (history pages), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/belfry-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Featured Trail: Belfry Mountain Fire Tower, Moriah, Adirondack Explorer, https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/recreation/featured-trail-belfry-mountain-fire-tower-moriah/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Belfry Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/belfry-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Belfry Mountain, Stream & Steeple, https://www.streamandsteeple.com/belfry-mountain-adk/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Belfry Fire Tower
Photo: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Belfry 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, 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 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. Map and Coordinates List for NYS DEC Firetowers (Andy Arthur) Gave us: ownership, links Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org (CC BY 3.0) · CC BY 3.0, credit: Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org. Facts + short description text reused under that licence. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, 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
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (nysffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter newsletter it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (the chapter publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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

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