{"nrhp_refnum":"06000253","name":"Mount Adams Fire Observation Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Mount Adams","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newcomb","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.081207439000025,"lon":-74.05556077299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-04-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Entertainment/Recreation","Conservation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A forest fire observation station on the 3,250-foot summit of Mount Adams in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, Town of Newcomb, Essex County, New York. It includes a steel lookout tower erected in 1917, a 1922 observer's cabin, a shed, a privy and a foot trail.","why_significant":"The station is argued to be significant under criteria A and C for its association with the New York State Forest Preserve and as an example of an early twentieth century fire tower with related structures. The 1922 cabin is the only surviving example in New York of the first standard observer's cabin design. The station also reflects the state's early efforts to detect and control wildfires.","narrative":"Mount Adams Fire Observation Station occupies the 3,250-foot summit and slopes of a mountain in the Adirondack Forest Preserve near Newcomb, New York. It consists of a steel AerMotor fire tower erected in 1917, an observer's cabin built in 1922, a shed, a privy and the two-mile foot trail connecting them. The station replaced an earlier wooden tower from 1912 and was set up with encouragement from the neighboring Tahawus Club after severe wildfires in the early twentieth century. Tower parts were hauled up the mountain by horse team. The cabin is the only surviving example in the state of the first standard observer's cabin design, adopted in 1922. A 1930 telephone line linked the site until it closed, and the station was decommissioned in 1970. The cabin and shed are in disrepair but salvageable, and a volunteer friends group has formed to restore them and reopen the trail.","period_of_significance":"1917-1955","architect_builder":"AerMotor Company (manufacturer)","architectural_style":"No Style/Utilitarian (fire tower)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Not in use; decommissioned in 1970. The cabin and shed are in disrepair but salvageable, and the trail is overgrown and hard to follow.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:52.991327-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06000253.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000253/7436d828c7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000253/7436d828c7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"420Traveler","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Adams_fire_tower_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">420Traveler</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Adams_fire_tower_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312892","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Adams_Fire_Observation_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6919254"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/mount-adams-fire-observation-station-06000253/"}