FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Providence County, Rhode Island

Washington Tower Site

Also known as George Washington, George Washington (Burrillville)

Built 1934 in George Washington State Forest, moved to Escoheag Hill in 1937-38; the moved structure stands unmaintained with its wooden cab burned.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The original George Washington site is gone. The tower was moved to Escoheag Hill, where the steel structure stands unmaintained and its wooden cab was burned.

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 tower: 65 ft per FFLOS for the original; NHLR gives 80 ft, modified Aermotor, for the moved Escoheag Hill structureThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
647 ft (197 m)
Agency
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (administers the Escoheag Hill structure)
Land
Unknown
Location
Providence County, Rhode Island
Coordinates
41.92300, −71.75300
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ri-washington

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1934 BuiltFirst operated 1934 on an unnamed knoll inside the George Washington State Forest; a 1934 annual report quoted by Forest Lookouts says it was built at federal expense as a work projectSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1937 MovedA 1937 study said the tower would move to Escoheag Hill; NHLR says it was moved in 1937Sources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  3. 1938 MovedFFLOS says moved to Escoheag in 1938; NHLR says it was rebuilt at its present location in 1938. Sources disagree on the move yearSources: firetower.org, nhlr.org
  4. 1952 EventBreak-in at the tower on Escoheag Hill (not the original site), reported in a Newport Mercury report dated March 21, 1952, as quoted by Forest Lookouts. The report says forest service staff found it 'yesterday', so the discovery date itself is not given. Stove, generator, telephone and other equipment stolen; map table smashedSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 1990
  6. 1990 ClosedNot an active lookout since around 1990 (NHLR, approximate); refers to the Escoheag Hill structureSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1990 and 2008
  8. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 8, 2008Source: FFLOS register entry
  9. 2009 BurnedNon-standard wooden cab burned by vandals sometime after 2009; exact year not given. Destroyed most upper landings and damaged the upper stairsSource: nhlr.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 George Washington tower went up in 1934 inside the George Washington State Forest, on the top of an unnamed knoll at the end of the park's old entrance road.1 The Forest Lookouts history site quotes the Department of Agriculture and Conservation's first annual report, which says the tower was built with federal money under a work-project program.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes it as a 65-foot steel tower.1

It did not stay on that knoll.1 A 1937 study, recorded in the department's third annual report, found that just four of the existing towers were worth keeping and said this one would move to Escoheag Hill.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it was moved there in 1938.1 The National Historic Lookout Register gives 1937 as the year of the move and 1938 as the year it was rebuilt at its present location.3 The two sources disagree about when the move happened. They also disagree about height. The National Historic Lookout Register lists the Escoheag Hill tower as an 80-foot modified Aermotor that it traces to the George Washington forest, while the Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives 65 feet.1,3 The two figures are not reconciled.

A Newport Mercury report dated March 21, 1952, says forest service staff preparing the towers for service found a break-in at the tower on Escoheag Hill. The intruder had taken a stove, a generator, a telephone and other equipment, and a heavy map table had been hurled out a window and broken on the ground below.4 The Forest Lookouts site quotes that Newport Mercury report.4

The National Historic Lookout Register says the tower has not operated as a lookout since about 1990.3 At some point after 2009, vandals burned its wooden cab, a non-standard design.3 The blaze wiped out most of the upper landings and damaged the upper stairs.3

Today, the register says the structure is not maintained, and it names the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management as administrator.3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the Escoheag Hill tower as standing, with its cab no longer in place.5 The sister register's separate Escoheag Tower Site listing notes that the site has some abandoned remains of the tower.6

At the original knoll, no source describes what, if anything, remains. The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Rhode Island list marks the George Washington site as gone.5

None of the sources describes public access to either place.

  1. Washington Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ri/washington-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. George Washington, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/george-washington.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Escoheag Hill Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), https://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ri/escoheag-hill-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Escoheag Hill, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/escoheag-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Rhode Island Fire Towers, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ri/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Escoheag Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ri/escoheag-tower-site/ (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: 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, 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.