{"nrhp_refnum":"80000661","name":"Great Blue Hill Observation Tower","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Milton","address_restricted":false,"city":"Milton","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.212159314000075,"lon":-71.11297779299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An observation tower with an attached picnic shelter on the summit of Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts, built around 1929 of native granite and slate as part of the Blue Hills Reservation.","why_significant":"The form describes the tower as a vital part of the collection of local-granite structures built in the Blue Hills Reservation. It is four-square and sturdy, and it lets viewers rise above the trees at the highest point in the Blue Hills range. Unlike the Chickatawbut Tower, it has a picnic shelter attached.","narrative":"Great Blue Hill Observation Tower crowns the summit of Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts, the highest point in the Blue Hills range. Built around 1929 of native granite and slate, it measures roughly 20 by 20 feet and rises about 40 feet. It was built by the Metropolitan District Commission for recreation, and it is still used that way, with a picnic shelter attached to the structure. The tower belongs to a larger group of buildings and structures made of local granite in the Blue Hills Reservation. It is described as four-square and sturdy, and its height lets visitors see over the treetops. A comparable tower on Chickatawbut Hill has no attached shelter, which sets this one apart. The property was recorded in 1979 as being in good to fair condition and was included in the multiple-resource nomination for the Blue Hills and Neponset River Reservations.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as good to fair, and the present use is recreation. The tower is owned by the Metropolitan District Commission.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.712188-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7927/63792702/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000661.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000661/fb727cd230-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000661/fb727cd230-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eliot_Tower_Milton_MA_03.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eliot_Tower_Milton_MA_03.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792702","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Hill_Observation_Tower","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61989500"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/great-blue-hill-observation-tower-80000661/"}