FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Warren County, Pennsylvania

Cole Hill Lookout

Cole Hill: a 60-ft Aermotor from 1925, moved and raised to 80 ft in 1932 after a land dispute; privately owned, last reported standing in 2008.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. The NHLR says the tower is administered by a private owner and its lower steps have been removed. No public visit information was found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 with a 7x7 foot cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Steel
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
1,906 ft (581 m)
Agency
Private owner
Land
State land
Location
Warren County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.77389, −79.43528
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-cole-hill

View from the cab

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History

Then and now

  1. 1924 EventKane Republican report announced a steel lookout to be built on Cole Hill, with a watchman to be stationed thereSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1925 BuiltOriginal 60-foot Aermotor tower built by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry, about half a mile from the present siteSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  3. 1926 First staffedTower watchman reporting fires in the dry seasonSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1928 FireNine fires reported burning at once; one of the most serious blazes was along the Allegheny River near TidiouteSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1928 StaffedE.L. (Ernest) Martin named as fire tower watchman; cabin fitted to house three men in dry weatherSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1930 EventRoof painted gray with the number X2 in yellow to help airplanes passing over the hillSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1932 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1932 MovedMoved to present location and raised to 80 feet after a dispute with the landowners of the original site; 20 feet taller than the old towerSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1941 StaffedE.L. Martin went on duty again in the 1941 seasonSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1949 StaffedWomen had been stationed on the tower as watchers for seven years; L.L. Dey of Torpedo named watchmanSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1949 and 2008
  12. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterSource: firetower.org
  13. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout RegisterSource: nhlr.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.

Cole Hill sits in Warren County, overlooking the Allegheny River.1,2 A 1924 report in The Kane Republican said a steel lookout would be built on the hill, with a watchman stationed there to keep an eye out for fire.2 The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry built the first tower in 1925 as a 60-foot Aermotor, on land about half a mile from where it stands today.1,3

A watchman worked the tower through the dry seasons, and E.L. Martin was on duty in many years from 1928 to 1941.2 In 1928 the cabin near the tower was fitted with a stove so that three men could stay there in dry weather.2 That May, nine fires were burning at once in scattered places, and among the worst was a blaze on the Allegheny River near Tidioute.2 In 1930 the roof was painted gray with the number X2 in yellow, to help airplanes passing over the hill.2

The tower was moved in 1932 and raised to 80 feet, a change that followed a land dispute with the first site's owners.1 The Warren Times Mirror reported that the new tower was twenty feet higher than the old one.2 The sources do not agree on the first build year. The NHLR gives 1932 as the build year, while its own description and the FFLOS entry date the first tower to 1925.1,3 A 1949 item says the tower material was hauled in August 1926, so the exact date is uncertain.2

By 1949 women had been stationed on the tower for seven years, and that season L.L. Dey of Torpedo was named watchman.2 The FFLOS entry, registered in 2008, reports that the tower survives, privately owned and in poor condition.3 The NHLR, registered in 2009, says it is now privately owned and its lower steps have been removed.1 I did not find a newer condition report, so its present state is unverified. Because it is privately owned, a visit would need the owner's permission, and I found no public visit information.

  1. Cole Hill Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/cole-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Cole Hill - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Eastern US Lookouts (Weebly), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/cole-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cole Hill Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/cole-hill-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cole Hill Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Cole Hill Lookout
Photo: Ron Stafford, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Cole Hill Lookout
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Cole Hill Lookout
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cole Hill
Cole HillPhoto: Shawn Lesitsky -- PA Fire Towers StoryMap (Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps) · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky): Standing

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1932
    • Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky): 1925

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, status, 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: type, what it is built of, register numbers, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) Gave us: design, height, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: ownership, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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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