One of Concord’s popular hiking destinations will be reopened to the public with a fresh new look by summertime, state officials say.
Work to restore the Oak Hill fire tower has been ongoing since February, said Doug Miner, forest ranger for the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands, and is expected to wrap up by mid-June.
The Capital City lookout spot is one of three fire towers the state is restoring this year at a total cost of $543,000. Repair includes installing a brand new lookout booth, a fresh coat of paint and new stair treads and decking materials.
Miner said the tower hadn’t been refurbished in “decades” and that the wooden cab at the top had sustained rot.
The tower is one of 15 active fire towers around the state staffed during “periods of high fire danger,” according to the Division of Forest and Lands.
The fire tower is the pinnacle of Concord’s Oak Hill trails, which cover about seven miles of land in west Concord. From the top on a clear day, visitors can see the distant outline of Mount Washington to the north..
The state offers a Fire Lookout Tower Quest program for adventurous hikers looking for some goal-driven recreation each season. Those interested need to fill out a brochure found online with the date of their visit. When you’ve visited five, turn it in for a complimentary Tower Quest patch, certificate and a letter in recognition of your accomplishment.
Architectural work is being done by ALBA Architects from North Woodstock. Contracting work is being done by Arnold M. Graton Associates out of Holderness.
New Hampshire’s first fire tower was built in Croydon around 1907, according to the state Division of Historical Resources. Early fire towers could be a simple platform built in a tree, but wooden towers were built as the need for more structures grew. Those early wooden towers were replaced by the steel towers that can be seen across the state today topped with cabs that offer 360 degree views.
Many existing New Hampshire fire towers were built in the 1920s and 1930s, when forest fires were frequently started by train embers or smoking materials. Watchmen often lived in cabins near the base of a tower and would telephone for help if they saw smoke nearby, according to information from the Division of Historical Resources.