Fire lookout · Saratoga County, New York
Cornell Hill Fire Tower (now at Wilton/Camp Saratoga)
Also known as Cornell Hill Fire Tower at Wilton, Wilton/Camp Saratoga, Cornell Hill Fire Tower
60-foot Aermotor fire tower erected in 1924 in Luther Forest; dismantled and rebuilt at Camp Saratoga in Wilton in 2010; open on set weekends April to October.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Open on set days: the third weekend of each month, April to October, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., plus October 2 and 3 in foliage season (Town of Wilton). The 2011 Saratogian report said that, for insurance reasons, visitors would have to be accompanied by a volunteer guide; no newer rule was found.
- Can you climb it?
- Yes
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- At Camp Saratoga, 93 Scout Road, Wilton, NY 12831, inside Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 ft metal cab; model disputed (LS-40 per the Town, the FFLA grant report and Starr; LS-20 per the NHLR)The design: Aermotor LS-40
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1924
- Height
- 60 ft (18.3 m)
- Elevation
- 335 ft (102 m)
- Agency
- Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park, in cooperation with the Town of Wilton
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Saratoga County, New York
- Coordinates
- 43.15276, −73.70171
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ny-cornell-hill-at-wilton-camp-saratoga
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
- 1924 BuiltErected by the New York Conservation Commission as a 60-foot Aermotor on Cornell Hill in Luther ForestSources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org
- 1924 First staffedFirst forest fire observer Noah LaCasse, 1924 to 1935Source: nhlr.org
- No record between 1924 and 1970
- 1970 Last staffedState operation ended with the 1970 fire season; the tower was then decommissionedSource: nhlr.org
- 1976 EventSaratogian: William Mackay bought the tower from the state for $1 through a surplus program. Starr instead says it was sold to Luther Forest for a nominal fee after decommissioning.Sources: saratogian.com, nhlr.org
- No record between 1976 and 2008
- 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered on the National Historic Lookout RegisterSource: nhlr.org
- 2008 MovedThe tower was taken down in summer and moved to Camp Saratoga in Wilton, where it was restored under Larry Gordon.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
- 2010 MovedDismantled at Cornell Hill from August 2010; rebuilt at Camp Saratoga by early December 2010Sources: nhlr.org, saratogian.com, nhlr.org
- 2010 RestoredRestored and re-erected by Dave Vana's crew before the move was completeSource: nhlr.org
- 2011 EventFFLA restoration grant of $500 toward furnishing the cab with a map table and fire finder equipmentSource: firelookout.org
- 2017 Condition assessmentNHLR visit report (September 16, 2017): excellent condition, wheelchair accessible to the base, volunteers staff the second weekend of each monthSource: nhlr.org
- Date unknown MovedMoved from Cornell Hill to Wilton/Camp Saratoga.Source: FFLA
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Cornell Hill fire tower went up in 1924 on Cornell Hill in the Luther Forest, a few miles from Saratoga Springs to the southeast.1 The New York State Conservation Commission built it to watch over a forest that feeds drinking water to several nearby communities.1 Sources disagree on the model. The NHLR page calls it an LS-20, while the Town of Wilton, the FFLA's 2011 grant report and Starr say LS-40.2,3,4,1
The first observer, Noah LaCasse, served from 1924 to 1935.1 Fire observers manned the tower for many years.5 Under an easement with the Luther Forest, the state ran it through the end of the 1970 fire season, after which it was decommissioned.1 It was later vandalized and ended up in poor shape.1,5
Accounts differ on how the tower changed hands. The Saratogian says William Mackay acquired it from the state for $1 in 1976, in a surplus sale.5 Starr describes a later sale to Luther Forest at a nominal price, after decommissioning.1 The Mackay family's company, Luther Forest Corp., later funded the restoration and transferred the tower to the Town of Wilton.5
Approvals and paperwork took four years, from 2006 to 2010.1 In August 2010, Dave Vana's crew began taking the tower apart on Cornell Hill.1 The Saratogian reports the tower was reassembled in early December on its new site near Scout Road.5 The NHLR page says the tower was relocated in 2011, but its photo caption dates the re-erection to December 2010.2
A dedication was held on May 14, 2011.1 The FFLA also awarded a $500 restoration grant that year, to be spent on equipping the cab with a map table and fire-finder gear.4
Today the tower stands at Camp Saratoga, inside Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park.2 According to the town, it is open on the third weekend of each month, April through October, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., plus October 2 and 3 for foliage season.3 A 2017 visit report on the NHLR page calls it in excellent condition, with wheelchair access to the base, and names the second weekend of each month for volunteer staffing.2 At the 2011 dedication, the Saratogian reported that visitors would need a volunteer guide, with insurance given as the reason.5 I found no newer rule either way.
- Moving the Cornell Hill fire tower to Wilton, NY, by Bill Starr, Lookout Network (Forest Fire Lookout Association), Spring 2011, http://nhlr.org/media/2967/cornell_hill_fire_tower_moved_to_wilton_ny-by_bill_starr.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Cornell Hill Fire Tower at Wilton, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/cornell-hill-fire-tower-at-wilton/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Cornell Hill Fire Tower, Town of Wilton, https://townofwilton.com/visitors/cornell-hill-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Restoration Grant Program Report 2011, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-restoration-2011.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Wilton dedicates Cornell Hill Fire Tower, which was recently restored and relocated to Camp Saratoga, Saratogian, http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/20110514/wilton-dedicates-cornell-hill-fire-tower-which-was-recently-restored-and-relocated-to-camp-saratoga (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports (opens another site) 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
- FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages (opens another site) Gave us: links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 734 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- NHLR register entry US 734 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Moving the Cornell Hill fire tower to Wilton, NY (Lookout Network (Forest Fire Lookout Association), Spring 2011, by Bill Starr) (opens another site)
- FFLA New York lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter: work on Cornell Hill Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: work on Cornell Hill Lookout (now at Wilton/Camp Saratoga) (opens another site)
- Town of Wilton (opens another site)
- "Wilton dedicates Cornell Hill Fire Tower, which was recently restored and relocated to Camp Saratoga" article from 5/14/2011 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.