FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Essex County, New York

Makomis Fire Tower (now at Speculator)

Also known as Makomis Fire Tower at Speculator, Speculator, Makomis Fire Tower

Makomis Mountain's 1911 wooden lookout was replaced by a steel Aermotor in 1916, taken down in 1978, and re-erected in Speculator in 2022, where it is open to visitors.

Original site: Makomis Fire Tower Original Site

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open dawn to dusk, seven days a week, free, weather permitting, per the Speculator Chamber page; confirm current hours with the village

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
No hike needed. The park is reached from NY Route 30 just before Speculator from the south.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot steel Aermotor fire tower (NHLR gives model LL25, firetower.org gives LS25)The design: Aermotor LL-25
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
1,686 ft (514 m)
Agency
Village of Speculator
Land
Unknown
Location
Essex County, New York
Coordinates
43.49667, −74.35831
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-makomis-at-speculator

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 BuiltWooden fire tower built on Makomis MountainSources: firetower.org, speculatorchamber.com
  2. 1916 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. 1916 Replaced by a new structureSteel 40-foot Aermotor replaced the wooden tower; NHLR's Built field also gives 1916Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, speculatorchamber.com
  4. No record between 1916 and 1970
  5. 1970 Last staffedOperation ended in 1970 per firetower.org and the Speculator Chamber; Experience Our Adirondacks says the last observer left in the early 1970sSources: firetower.org, speculatorchamber.com, experienceouradirondacks.com
  6. 1978 RemovedDismantled and taken off Makomis MountainSources: speculatorchamber.com, experienceouradirondacks.com
  7. No record between 1978 and 2019
  8. 2019 EventExcelsior Towers bought the tower from the Barber familySource: experienceouradirondacks.com
  9. 2019 RestoredOwner Mike Vigeli finished restoring the dismantled tower (with Pat's Welding) and was seeking a site to erect it (reported 2019).Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  10. 2022 RebuiltHistoric Makomis tower was re-erected at a new Adirondack site in Speculator, planned with the village and FFLA volunteers; grand opening held September 1, 2022.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2022 MovedRe-erected and reassembled in the Village of SpeculatorSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, experienceouradirondacks.com
  12. 2022 RestoredChamber describes it as restored and relocated; opened to visitors September 1, 2022Sources: speculatorchamber.com, experienceouradirondacks.com
  13. 2023 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterOriginal-site record registered December 31, 2023 as US 2102Source: firetower.org
  14. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 31, 2023 as US 1779Source: nhlr.org
  15. Date unknown MovedMoved from Makomis to Speculator.Source: FFLA
  16. 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.

Makomis Mountain in Essex County had a wooden fire lookout built on its summit in 1911.1,2 In 1916 a steel tower replaced it, a 40-foot Aermotor that one local source counts among the first steel fire towers in New York State.1,2 The sources disagree on the model: the National Historic Lookout Register says LL25, while firetower.org says LS25.3,1

The tower's final years of watch are described two ways. An Experience Our Adirondacks story says the last observer, Oscar Messenger, left at the end of the fire season in the early 1970s.4 Two other accounts say operation ended in 1970.1,2 The tower was taken down from the mountain in 1978.2,4

Its parts were later bought by Excelsior Towers, which had acquired the tower from the Barber family in 2019.1,4 The tower was re-erected in the Village of Speculator in 2022, and it was opened to the public there on September 1 of that year.1,4

Today the tower stands in a community park in Speculator.2 Sources name the site differently: the register says Speculator Village Park, while a local chamber page says Sacandaga River Community Park.3,2 According to that chamber page, the tower is open dawn to dusk, seven days a week, weather permitting, and it is free. No hike is needed to reach it.2 Climbing it gives views of Lake Pleasant, the page says.2

Two loose ends remain. The register places the Speculator site in Essex County, but a local chamber page links the tower to Hamilton County, so the county is unsettled.3,2 The chamber page is a tourism source rather than a village notice, so check current hours with the village before visiting.2

  1. Makomis Fire Tower Original Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), https://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ny/makomis-fire-tower-original-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Makomis Fire Tower, Speculator Chamber, https://www.speculatorchamber.com/hiking/makomis-fire-tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Makomis Fire Tower at Speculator, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/makomis-fire-tower-at-speculator/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Reaching New Heights in Speculator, NY, Experience Our Adirondacks, https://www.experienceouradirondacks.com/story/2022/reaching-new-heights-in-speculator (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Relocated tower at Speculator
Relocated tower at SpeculatorPhoto: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1917 photo
1917 photo (1917)Photo: New York State Archives, 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: 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: 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.