Snowy Mountain Lookout

In 1930, a road was built to the summit of Snowy Mountain calling it the Snowy Mountain Trail. Three objects were in mind to build the road. First for fire protection, second for removing timber and third for a road leading to the new fire tower. By the end of the season, a 90-foot iron tower was in place. At the base it was 19 feet wide and seven feet at the top. Jacob Mentzer, Crawford Misner and Henry Moats, stone masons, built a one and a half story 18x22 stone structure for the towerman.

In 1932, the tower was on a game reserve hence off limits to many people during the hunting season. Personal were looking into eliminating this so the public could visit at any time during the year.

In 1939, the lookout was Blaine Kauffman, during a very dry year for the mountains. On a Sunday in May, he had 152 visitors.

In 1942, survey benchmarks were placed at the tower. They mention both the tower and the stone house where the warden resides. They described the tower as about 100 feet tall, a four-legged steel tower surmounted with a wood cab. The steel portion of the tower was painted aluminum and the cab is a very light gray.

In 1943, due to the manpower shortage during the war, women were manning the Snow Mountain fire tower for the first time in history. The women kept a vigil from the top of the tower during the day time and relieve men did nursery work and fire fighting when necessary. The women were Mrs. Harry Staley and Mrs. William Verdier.

In 1944, the lookout Ranger Harold High reported a 20 acre fire and that day 30 firefighters and twenty Quincy High School students put the fire out.

In 1963, the lookout was Norman Wagaman. While in the 5.5 foot square cab a large window in the cab was unloosened by the wind. Norman caught the window section and held it in place until maintenance men climbed the swaying tower to fasten the frame.

In 1969, the lookout was Rodney Wagaman.
In 1972, the lookout was John Bumbaugh of Mont Alto.

In 1973, the 90-foot tower was toppled by vandals who cut the support legs with hacksaws. The tower even took out some powerlines on the way down. Three people from South Mountain were arrested and served a good amount of jail time, Darrell Kauffman, 25, his cousin Rickey Kauffman, 20 and a 17-year-old Eddie Miller. Police recovered hack saw blades in the area. Officials expected it would take six months to build a replacement, damage was expected at $35,000. Options were considered to build a completely new one, salvage the fallen one getting new parts and rebuild, or get a tower from another location. By Fall, some sort of tower was up because Glen Naugle was the observer.

In 1975, a construction firm called Forest Builders was awarded the contract to build a new 80-foot tower to replace the one destroyed by vandals. The tower was built by a firm in Oklahoma (Aermotor Windmill Company) but erected on the Snowy Mountain site.

In 1985, vandals smashed the all the windows in the tower.

In 2001, the lookout was placed on the National Historic Lookout Register. It was still being used during times of high fire danger.

This mountain is in Michaux State Forest located not far off the Appalachian Trail. The summit was part of the original AT route. The lookout is fenced off but part of the fence has been pulled up offering easy access. Given the close proximity of Waynesboro, there is a lot of history in the newspaper archives. Below is some of what can be found.

On the Appalachian Trail going north, just after passing underneath Snowy Mountain, the trail crosses a powerline swath. (Mile 1079.2 in 2024) The powerline is marked on the FarOut App. There is a boot trail up the powerline that goes to the summit where you can find the lookout tower. Another option would be to bushwhack the short distance between the road and AT about a half mile before reaching the summit area of Snowy Mountain.