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Fire lookout · Hamilton County, New York

Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower

Hamilton County steel Aermotor tower of 1924 on a station first set up in 1918; staffed into 1981, radio repeater since 1983, cab closed but stairs reach the top landing.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Cab closed to the public; approach roads owned by Lyme Timber, with public access under a conservation easement

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike from the main trailhead at the end of the old service road from Sled Harbor; tower stairs reach a top landing with views; the 2016 NHLR visit flagged repairs to footings and safety netting; roads close in winter
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 9-ft steel-and-glass hip-roof cab; observer's cabin and shed added in 1950The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1918
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,597 ft (1,096 m)
Agency
NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Hamilton County, New York
Coordinates
43.58138, −74.51103
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-pillsbury-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 3.6 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. 1918 BuiltFirst wooden station and log cabin, set up by the landowner (Champlain Reality Company, per NHLR); the roster has no entry before 1920Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1920 First staffedFirst payroll observer in the roster, May to October 1920Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1924 BuiltSteel Aermotor LS-40 tower erected; NHLR says operation passed to the state that yearSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  4. 1924 Replaced by a new structureThe Champlain Realty Company replaced an earlier wooden tower with the 60-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower that still stands.Source: nysffla.org
  5. No record between 1924 and 1950
  6. 1950 BuiltObserver's cabin and shedSource: en.wikipedia.org
  7. No record between 1950 and 1981
  8. 1981 Last staffedLast observer entry in the payroll rosterSource: nhlr.org
  9. 1983 ClosedOfficially decommissioned; forest rangers installed a solar two-way radio repeater on the tower the same year, which the NHLR says is still thereSources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1983 and 2005
  11. 2005 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, July 31, 2005Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2005 RestoredMinor restoration workSource: nhlr.org
  13. 2007 EventFFLA restoration grant awarded for Pillsbury Mountain tower facility, first to replace the failing observer cabin roof with NYS DEC staff.Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
  14. 2010 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places, September 2010Source: en.wikipedia.org
  15. 2016 Condition assessmentNHLR visit report (November 12, 2016) lists paint, stair and landing work, safety netting and footings needing repair; observer's cabin vandalized and open to the weatherSource: nhlr.org
  16. 2019 RestoredFFLA volunteers replaced steps and two landings and painted most of the tower in September, with materials flown in by DEC; major work continued into 2020.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  17. 2020 RestoredVolunteers finished two landings and three flights of steps by 30 August, then all remaining stair treads and one more landing by early October; three landings were left.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  18. 2021 RestoredOn July 24, 2021 volunteers completed the last landings on the Pillsbury tower, finishing the stair and landing restoration.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  19. 2023 AlteredA five-person crew put up new safety fencing along the stairs and landings of Pillsbury tower on Sept 16, 2023; the cab remains closed.Source: nysffla.org
  20. 2024 AlteredChapter volunteers' safety fencing on the tower was nearly finished; final stapling was scheduled for a work day in mid-July 2024.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  21. 2024 EventA wall of the observer's cabin collapsed and debris fell onto the tower trail; DEC was to clear it (notice of Sept. 20).Source: nysffla.org
  22. 2025 EventNYS DEC burned the collapsed observer's cabin on the summit in mid-April; DEC listed it as removed and flew out the cabin-fire debris in Nov. 2025.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  23. 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.

Pillsbury Mountain sits at Arietta in Hamilton County, and it feels remote.1,2

The first station on the summit was a wooden tower with a log cabin, set up in 1918 by the landowner, the Champlain Reality Company.3 The NHLR says the company ran it as a secondary station during dry weather.3 The state's payroll roster is less clear about those early years. Its first Pillsbury entry is an observer from May 1920, and the roster itself warns that it is incomplete.4

Operation passed to the state in 1924, the year a steel Aermotor LS-40 tower went up.3,1 The NHLR gives the tower's height as 60 feet, while Wikipedia gives 69 feet, so the sources do not agree on that either.3,1 The observer's cabin and shed were added in 1950.1

Observers staffed the tower into the early 1980s, and the roster's last entry is from 1981.4 Bill Starr, who compiled the roster and now serves as the NHLR's state registrar, was himself an observer here in the late 1970s.3,4 The state officially decommissioned the tower in 1983. That same year, forest rangers installed a solar-powered two-way radio repeater on it, and the repeater is still there.4,3

Upkeep has been uneven. The NHLR notes minor restoration work in 2005, and the same year the register listed the tower.3 A November 2016 visit report found the tower needing paint, stair and landing work, and safety netting repairs, and the observer's cabin open to the weather through a hole in the roof and door.3 The National Register listed the station in 2010.1

Today the cab is closed to the public, but the tower stairs lead to a top landing with wide views.2,3 The access roads are owned by Lyme Timber, and the public uses them under a conservation easement, so mind the private land and give way to logging trucks when they are active.2 In winter the roads close and the approach becomes a long walk.3 Given the repair notes from 2016, check current conditions before you climb.

  1. Pillsbury Mountain Forest Fire Observation Station, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillsbury_Mountain_Forest_Fire_Observation_Station (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower, Experience Our Adirondacks, https://www.experienceouradirondacks.com/hiking/pillsbury-mountain-fire-tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/pillsbury-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. 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 Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower facility 9/10/2005 (by Bill Starr)
Tower facility 9/10/2005 (by Bill Starr) (2005)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Model 1941 cabin
Model 1941 cabin (1941)Photo: Bill Starr, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pillsbury 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: 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, 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

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