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Fire lookout · Hamilton County, New York

Owls Head Fire Tower

Also known as Owls Head Mountain

Hamilton County lookout: a wooden tower from 1911, the steel Aermotor tower of 1919, closed in 1970, restored in 2003 and open to hikers.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Open to hikers since the 2003 restoration; reached on foot by a trail from Endion Road off NY 30

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
3.2-mile ascent with about 1,200 ft of gain from a trailhead on Endion Road; the trail passes the old observer's cabin foundation and the NHLR reports it is well marked
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower35-ft Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7x7 ft metal cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1911
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
2,717 ft (828 m)
Agency
NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Hamilton County, New York
Coordinates
43.95438, −74.49888
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-owls-head

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 3.7 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 wooden state fire tower, after a 1908 fire destroyed Long Lake WestSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1911 First staffedPayroll roster's first observer starts August 1911Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1919 BuiltCurrent steel Aermotor LS-40 tower; replaced the wooden towerSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  4. No record between 1919 and 1968
  5. 1968 Last staffedRoster's last observer served April to October 1968; NHLR says staffed until 1970Sources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org
  6. 1970 ClosedClosed as airplanes replaced fire observers; roster says not staffed in 1969 and decommissioned in 1970Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nhlr.org
  7. 1979 BurnedObservers cabin burnedSource: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 1979 and 2003
  9. 2003 RestoredDEC and Friends of Owl Head Fire Tower restored the lookout; NHLR says it is again open for hikersSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2004 RestoredOwl's Head tower restoration was completed and the tower opened to the public, with most of the work done by the local ranger.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, July 27, 2006Source: nhlr.org
  12. No record between 2006 and 2023
  13. 2023 RestoredA volunteer carried paint up and covered graffiti on Owls Head tower in July 2023 after early-July storms.Source: nysffla.org
  14. 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.

Owls Head Mountain sits in Hamilton County, west-southwest of the hamlet of Long Lake.1 A forest fire in 1908 destroyed nearby Long Lake West, and the state answered with a wooden fire tower on the mountain in 1911.1 The first observer on the state's payroll started that August, so the post was staffed from the beginning.2,3

The wooden tower was replaced in 1919 by the steel tower that stands today.1 It is a 35-foot Aermotor LS-40 with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, and the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) built it.2,1

Observers watched from the tower for decades, and the path to the summit still runs past the foundation of the old observer's cabin.1 Sources disagree on when the watch ended. The NHLR says the tower was staffed until 1970.2 The payroll roster places the last observer in 1968 and says the tower was not staffed in 1969.3 Wikipedia dates the closure to 1970, when airplanes took over the spotting work.1

The observers' cabin burned in 1979.2 A 2003 restoration by the DEC and the Friends of Owl Head Fire Tower reopened the lookout to hikers.2,1 The Friends group works with the DEC on upkeep, though staff changes on both sides have slowed some repairs.2 A visit report on the NHLR called for paint on the tower, the landing boards and the stair treads, and it noted significant graffiti inside the cab.2 The register listed the lookout in 2006.2

Today the tower is a hike. The ascent is 3.2 miles with about 1,200 feet of climb, starting from a trailhead on Endion Road, off New York Route 30.1 The NHLR reports that the trail is well marked and the old cabin site is signed.2 Check current conditions with the DEC before you go.

  1. Owls Head Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owls_Head_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Owls Head Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/owls-head-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Roster of the Fire Tower Forest Fire Observers of New York State, Bill Starr, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/media/2971/new_york_fire_tower_observer_roster_by_bill_starr_3-18-11.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Owls Head Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob Eckler
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob EcklerPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob Eckler
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob EcklerPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob Eckler
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob EcklerPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob Eckler
Owls Head Mtn. tower 7-22-73 by Bob EcklerPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
c1930 Parker Family collection
c1930 Parker Family collectionPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1930 observer Laurence Parker near the tower
1930 observer Laurence Parker near the tower (1930)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Owls Head Fire Tower
Photo: 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, 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: 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. 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.