FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Providence County, Rhode Island

Blackstone Valley Tower Site

Also known as Durfee Hill

Durfee Hill lookout, a 65-ft steel tower first operated in 1926; moved to Buck Hill in 1937, where NHLR lists a standing tower. Durfee Hill site: no tower described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The tower now stands on Buck Hill. The register's 2017 visit report there says 'No public access'. No source gives access for the Durfee Hill site.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower65-foot steel tower
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1926
Height
65 ft (19.8 m)
Elevation
805 ft (245 m)
Agency
Rhode Island Commissioner of Forestry, later the Department of Agriculture and Conservation
Land
Unknown
Location
Providence County, Rhode Island
Coordinates
41.89175, −71.74370
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ri-blackstone-valley

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 3.5 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. 1916 EventJanuary 1916 forestry commissioner's report proposes a lookout on Durfee Hill and mentions buying the Durfee Hill region as a state forest reserveSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1926 BuiltRegister says the tower was first operated in 1926Source: firetower.org
  3. 1937 ClosedEnded operation at the end of the 1937 fire seasonSource: firetower.org
  4. 1937 Moved1937 annual report, as quoted: only four existing towers of real value; a tower on Buck Hill in Burrillville would complete coverage; the Blackstone Valley tower has been moved to Buck HillSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1938 BuiltRegister gives 1938 as the build year of the Buck Hill tower; it is not stated whether this is the erection date of the moved tower (see resolved_conflicts)Source: nhlr.org
  6. No record between 1938 and 2008
  7. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 8, 2008, nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: firetower.org
  8. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 Blackstone Valley lookout stood on Durfee Hill, in Burrillville within Providence County, at about 805 feet (245 meters).1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes a 65-foot steel tower there that was first operated in 1926.1 An earlier plan came from a January 1916 report by the state forestry commissioner, which proposed a lookout on Durfee Hill to watch over most of Providence County's woodland.2 The same report also mentions acquiring the Durfee Hill area as a state forest reserve.2

The tower's time on the hill was short.1 The register says it ended operation at the end of the 1937 fire season.1 A 1937 state annual report, as quoted by a lookout history site, found that only four existing towers were worth keeping.3 It said a tower on Buck Hill in Burrillville would round out the coverage, and that the Blackstone Valley tower had been moved there.3

The tower's later history is on Buck Hill.3 The National Historic Lookout Register describes a 65-foot steel tower there, built in 1938 and administered by the state Department of Environmental Management.4 The sources do not explain how the 1937 move and the 1938 build year fit together.3,4

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists Buck Hill as a standing tower but does not list Durfee Hill.5 The register gives the Buck Hill cab as 8 by 8 feet and says the tower is the only one in Rhode Island with a catwalk.4 It also credits the tower with listening in on German radio broadcasts during the Second World War and relaying their movements to Allied forces landing at Normandy.4 We found no second source for that wartime account.4

A 2017 visit report on the register records no public access to the tower.4 A 2016 visit report says the state stopped staffing its towers in the 1990s.4

Today, the register lists Durfee Hill as a former lookout site. No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the hill.1,5

  1. Blackstone Valley Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ri/blackstone-valley-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Durfee Hill, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/durfee-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Blackstone Valley, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/blackstone-valley.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Buck Hill Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ri/buck-hill-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Rhode Island Fire Towers (Standing), Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ri/ri-st/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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 Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: agency, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.