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Fire lookout · Hamilton County, New York

Blue Mountain Fire Tower

Wooden tower of 1911 replaced by a 1917 Aermotor steel tower on Blue Mountain at Indian Lake; closed 1990, volunteer-restored, NRHP-listed 2001, open with summer stewards.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open to the public after restoration; a summit steward is hired each summer under a town and state agreement, per the 2018 NHLR visit report.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Marked hiking trail with a large parking area at the trailhead; the Adirondack region listing gives 4 miles round trip and about 1,560 feet of climbing.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower35-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab, built 1917 to replace a 1911 wooden towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Wood
Built
1911
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
3,759 ft (1,146 m)
Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Hamilton County, New York
Coordinates
43.87210, −74.40130
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-blue-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 3.8 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. 1870 EventSite used as a station in the land survey of 1870.Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1870 and 1911
  3. 1911 BuiltWooden tower built on the site.Sources: nhlr.org, tupperlake.com
  4. 1917 Replaced by a new structurePresent 35-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with 7 x 7 ft steel cab built by the state.Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  5. No record between 1917 and 1990
  6. 1990 ClosedTower remained active until 1990, when the state closed it; one of the last operating fire towers in New York at that point.Sources: nhlr.org, tupperlake.com
  7. 1994 RestoredTower rehabilitated; staffed by volunteers of the Blue Mountain Fire Tower Committee afterwards.Source: nhlr.org
  8. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered July 6, 1995 per the NHLR detail page.Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2001 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesListed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2001, as Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station (NRHP 01001035).Sources: en.wikipedia.org, npgallery.nps.gov
  10. No record between 2001 and 2017
  11. 2017 AlteredTower returned to its historical appearance by the NYSDEC.Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2017 RemovedCommunications equipment and the building beneath the tower removed in fall 2017.Source: nhlr.org
  13. 2017 RestoredThe tower was restored to near its historical appearance under a Wild Forest amendment; communications gear and a building under the tower were removed in the fall.Source: firelookout.org
  14. 2019 RestoredFFLA, NYSDEC and Team Rubicon volunteers worked on the tower on 1-2 June and FFLA volunteers painted it on 8 July, completing the year's major restoration.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  15. 2020 RestoredAfter graffiti was reported on the tower, cab, cabin foundation and summit rocks, FFLA volunteers went up and cleaned what they could in poor weather (reported).Source: nysffla.org
  16. 2021 RestoredOn May 15, 2021 a crew removed the old siding on the Blue Mountain observer's cabin and installed new; exterior work, incl. replacing floor joists, finished that week.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  17. 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.

The Blue Mountain Fire Tower is in Hamilton County, New York, on Blue Mountain at Indian Lake.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register suggests it may be the best-known and most-visited fire tower in the Adirondacks.2

The summit served as a land-survey station in 1870, and a wooden tower rose there in 1911.2 In 1917 the state built the present tower: a 35-foot Aermotor steel structure with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab.2,1 The tower remained active until 1990, when the state closed it.2,3 A brochure describes it as one of the last operating fire towers in New York at that point.3

After a 1994 rehabilitation, volunteers from the Blue Mountain Fire Tower Committee staffed the tower.2 The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2001.1,4

In fall 2017 the state cleared communications gear and a building from the tower’s base, and the tower was put back to its historical look.2 A 2018 visit report noted plans to repaint and redeck the tower that year.2

Today the tower is listed as restored and open to the public.3 Under an agreement between the town and the state, a summit steward is hired each summer to staff the tower, share historical information and teach hikers.2 Visitors hike a marked trail to the tower, and a 2018 visit report found the trail well marked and the parking area large.2 The Adirondack region listing gives a trail of 4 miles round trip with about 1,560 feet of climbing.5

  1. Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Station (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Blue Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/blue-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Fire Tower Challenge brochure, Tupper Lake, https://www.tupperlake.com/f/Listings/684996/information-pdfs/AE25-FireTowerChallenge_Brochure.pdf_0.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station, National Register Information System, NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/01001035 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Blue Mountain Fire Observation Station, Adirondack Region, https://www.adirondackregion.com/attractions/observatories/blue-mountain-fire-observation-station (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Blue Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: P. Hartmann collection (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Mountain Fire Tower, 1998
(1998)Photo: Bill Starr, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blue Mountain 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, 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.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 FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  7. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: register numbers, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. 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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