FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Washington County, New York

Black Mountain Fire Tower

A 1918 Aermotor steel tower on Black Mountain above Lake George, staffed until 1988 and now fenced off as a police radio site; closure dates conflict.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Tower closed to the public and enclosed by fencing; the site itself is open

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Summit reached on foot; the tower and its fenced compound are closed to visitors
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1989)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower35-ft Aermotor LS40 steel tower (1918), extended by 39 ft in 1988 to 80 ft totalThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
2,665 ft (812 m)
Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Washington County, New York
Coordinates
43.60689, −73.53100
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-black-mountain

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 3.5 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. 1911 BuiltFirst lookout: wooden fire tower built by the Conservation CommissionSources: en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  2. 1918 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. 1918 Replaced by a new structureReplaced by a 35-foot Aermotor LS40 steel towerSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  4. No record between 1918 and 1988
  5. 1988 ClosedNHLR: officially closed in 1988Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1988 AlteredReinforced and extended with a 39-ft section for state police communications, 80 ft totalSource: nhlr.org
  7. 1988 Last staffedLookout operations ended at the end of the 1988 fire season; Explorer says staffed until 1988Sources: en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  8. 1989 ClosedWikipedia: officially closed by the DEC in early 1989Source: en.wikipedia.org
  9. 1990 ClosedExplorer: off limits to the public since 1990Source: adirondackexplorer.org
  10. No record between 1990 and 2018
  11. 2018 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 3, 2018 as US 1276, NY 44Source: nhlr.org
  12. 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.

Black Mountain rises on the eastern shore of Lake George, inside the Lake George Wild Forest, and its summit has long served as a fire-watch post.1 The first lookout, a wooden tower, was built by the Conservation Commission in May 1911.2 In 1918 the Commission put up a 35-foot steel tower, an Aermotor LS40, and it stayed in use until 1988.3,2

For 77 years the tower was manned by state fire spotters and forest rangers.2 The sources disagree on when the watch ended.3,2,1 The National Historic Lookout Register says the tower was officially closed in 1988, the same year it was extended.3 Wikipedia says lookout operations ended with the 1988 fire season, and the DEC officially closed the tower in early 1989.2 The Adirondack Explorer dates the public's exclusion from the tower to 1990.1

In 1988 a 39-foot extension was added for state police communications.3 The register gives the total height afterward as 80 feet, more than the 35-foot tower and the 39-foot addition add up to.3 Today the tower carries radio equipment rather than fire watchers.2,1 Wikipedia says police agencies use the tower for radio repeater antennas.2 The Explorer describes state emergency communications equipment that runs on solar panels and is enclosed by tall fencing with razor wire on top.1 A modular building at the base is also enclosed by fencing.3 The tower still stands on the summit, and Wikipedia notes that the grounds are open while the tower itself stays shut to visitors.2

  1. Lake George’s Black Mountain is a hike through layers of clouds, Adirondack Explorer, https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/?p=280727 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Black Mountain (Washington County, New York), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain_(Washington_County,_New_York) (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Black Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/black-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

August 13, 2017 photo
August 13, 2017 photo (2017)Photo: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. 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, staffing, 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.