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Azure Mountain Fire Tower
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US
520
,
New York
23
Franklin County, New York
Elevation:
2500'
Coordinates:
N44.54283 W74.50460
Administrative Unit:
New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Cooperators:
Azure Mountain Friends & New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Date Certified:
9/30/2003
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There are a number of success stories of restoration of fire towers in the Adirondacks, and Azure Mountain is among them. The first lookout on the site was a wood platform built in 1914. In 1918 New York DEC built the present 35’ Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7’x7’ metal cab at a cost of $300. In 1934 the State added the 535 Azure Mountain tract to the Adirondack Park and continued to staff the lookout until 1978. The 1936 observers cabin was removed in 1995, but in 2001 the fire tower and six others won listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower was restored in 2002 by a team from DEC, AmeriCorps, and a group known as Azure Mountain Friends (who published an excellent Fire Tower Interpreter’s Guide).
From The Observers' Cabin by Bill Starr: "What I call the `Model 1936' cabin was developed and placed into service that year. Six were built at Azure, De Bar, Makomis, Poke-O-Moonshine, Rock Rift and Stissing mountains. The blue prints call for a stone fireplace on the front wall of the cabin. Yet from very recent photographic research not all these cabins were constructed with the stone fireplace. Accessibility to material and even to a skilled stone mason was essential. At Azure, De Bar and Poke-O-Moonshine mountains road access to the cabin sites was available, and a stone mason must have been at one of the nearest C.C.C. camps because these three locations all had their 'Model 1936' cabins built with a stone fire place. The only other cabin with a stone fire place was at St. Regis Mountain where this cabin was built in 1939. Two stone chimneys existed on this cabin, the main fireplace in front and a smaller chimney in the rear left corner of the cabin at the pantry, no doubt for a wood burning cook stove."
View additional information at the Azure Mountain Friends website
View additional New York information
1936-New Cabin (NYS-DEC photo-courtesy Bill Starr)
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Model 1936 Cabin (courtesy Bill Starr)
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1974-Model 1936 Cabin (Bob Eckler photo-courtesy Bill Starr)
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