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Fire lookout · Bedford County, Pennsylvania

Martin Hill Tower Site

Bedford County, PA lookout on Martin Hill: tree tower 1912, steel tower 1921, removed 2001 or 2002 (sources differ); the summit now holds communication towers.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Steel tower removed in 2002 per FFLOS, but March 17, 2001 per the Southampton Township history, which also says the summit now holds communication towers

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
Trail
Township says state forest trails are open to licensed ATVs for part of the year; no source says whether the summit is open to visitors

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towersteel tower built in fall 1921 (township: steel aeromotor tower, 68 ft); earlier tree observation post 25 ft up from 1912The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1912
Height
68 ft (20.7 m)
Elevation
2,720 ft (829 m)
Agency
Buchanan State Forest
Land
State land
Location
Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
39.82981, −78.54307
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-martin-hill

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. 1912 BuiltFirst tree tower: a tree observation post 25 feet above the groundSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1921 Replaced by a new structureSteel tower replaced the tree tower; township dates the build to fall 1921 at a cost of $610.03Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, southamptontownship.wixsite.com
  3. 1927 StaffedTowerman Irvin Ruby reported two fires in 1927 and nineteen in 1928Source: southamptontownship.wixsite.com
  4. 1930 FireCareless fire destroyed 1,150 acres on May 4 and 5 (950 timber, 200 brush), per townshipSource: southamptontownship.wixsite.com
  5. No record between 1930 and 1975
  6. 1975 FireStolen car and four acres of underbrush burned around the tower in November 1975Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1975 and 2001
  8. 2001 RemovedTownship: removed March 17, 2001, after DER quietly sold it for $300 (the register gives 2002)Source: southamptontownship.wixsite.com
  9. 2002 RemovedSteel tower removed, per FFLOS (township gives March 2001)Source: firetower.org
  10. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008; nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: firetower.org
  11. 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 Martin Hill lookout stood on Martin Hill in Bedford County, in the Buchanan State Forest.1,2 A tree observation post 25 feet above the ground went up there in 1912.3,1 The state replaced it in 1921 with a steel tower.3,1

Forester William Byers had the steel tower built that fall at a cost of $610.03, the Southampton Township history says.2 The township says the tower stood 68 feet tall and that a small cabin for the watchman sat near its base.2 A 1921 item in Forest Leaves said 50 towers had been ordered and that Martin Hill would be one of the first 18 put up.1

The township says a watch person manned the tower each fall during the high fire season, sometimes staying on the mountain for weeks.2 Towerman Irvin Ruby reported two fires in 1927 and nineteen the next year.2 In May 1930 a careless fire on the hill destroyed 1,150 acres, 950 of them timber.2 In November 1975 a stolen car burned, along with four acres of underbrush around the tower.1

The register says the steel tower was removed in 2002.3 The township gives a different date, March 17, 2001, and says DER had quietly sold the tower for $300.2 The sources also do not agree on elevation. The register gives 2,720 feet (829 meters) for the site, and the township gives 2,700 feet for the tower. A 1921 Bedford newspaper put the top of the hill at 3,096 feet.3,2,1

The township describes the summit today as filled with different styles of communication towers.2 None of the three sources describes what, if anything, is left of the 1921 tower or its cabin.3,1,2 The township says the state forest's trails are open to licensed ATVs for part of the year.2 Whether the summit itself is open to visitors is not settled by any source we read.2

  1. Martin Hill, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/martin-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Buchanan State Forest, Southampton Township, Bedford County, https://southamptontownship.wixsite.com/southampton/buchanan-state-forest (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Martin Hill Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/martin-hill-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: agency, 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.