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Fire lookout · Tioga County, Pennsylvania

Maple Hill Tower Site (Tioga County)

Also known as Maple Hill

Tioga County tower erected on Maple Hill in 1921; moved to Bloss Mountain in 1939 and removed there in 1986.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Moved to Bloss Mountain in 1939 and removed there in 1986; no source describes the Maple Hill site today.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towersteel Aermotor towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1921
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
2,097 ft (639 m)
Agency
Pennsylvania Forestry Department
Land
Unknown
Location
Tioga County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.69230, −77.17719
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-maple-hill-tioga-county

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.3 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. 1921 BuiltErected on Maple Hill in 1921; register gives built 1921Sources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  2. 1925 FireFire at the head of Long Run, Morris township; held to seven acresSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1925 StaffedTowerman Wood on the Maple Hill tower, May 1925Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1926 FireSpark from a log-train engine at Morris; about forty acres of state forest burnedSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1939 MovedMoved to Bloss Mountain; announced June 1939, register says moved in 1939 and renamed Bloss MountainSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  6. No record between 1939 and 1986
  7. 1986 RemovedBloss Mountain tower removed in 1986 per the registerSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1986 and 2008
  9. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008Source: firetower.org
  10. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The tower stood on Maple Hill, near a spot where Duncan, Charleston and Bloss townships come together.1 In August 1921 State Forester Paul Mulford was overseeing the erection of a 60-foot steel tower there for the state forestry department, with a telephone link so observers could report fires quickly.1 A September 1921 report said it was nearly complete, and the register dates it to 1921.1,2

A towerman named Wood sighted a fire from the tower in May 1925.1 The blaze was contained at seven acres.1 In April 1926 the Maple Hill towerman spotted a fire that a spark from a log-train engine at Morris had started. It burned roughly forty acres of state forest before it was stopped.1

In June 1939 the Department of Forests and Waters announced that the Maple Hill tower would be moved to Bloss Mountain, which it called a better location.1 The register says the tower was moved in 1939 and renamed Bloss Mountain.2 An October 1939 report gave the Bloss Mountain tower as 80 feet high and said it had formerly stood on Maple Hill.3 The sources do not say whether the tower was made taller when it moved. The register records the Bloss Mountain tower as removed in 1986.4

The Maple Hill site was entered in the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on September 16, 2008.2

Today, no source I read describes what remains at either the Maple Hill or the Bloss Mountain site, or whether either is open to visitors.

  1. Maple Hill - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/maple-hill2.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Maple Hill Tower Site (Tioga County) | Former Fire Lookout Sites, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/maple-hill-tower-site-tioga-county/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Bloss Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bloss-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Bloss Mountain Tower Site | Former Fire Lookout Sites, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/bloss-mountain-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.