Ardbeg Fire Tower

This location was home to the Ardbeg Fire Tower, which stood on this site from the 1930's, until it was dismantled in 1971, when air fire surveillance took over. The tower was 100 feet tall, steel construction, and one of the last manned towers still standing in Southern Ontario.

All that remains now are the four corner foundation posts and the concrete stairs which led to the base of the ladder. I have heard that the remains of a cabin can be found south of the tower site, near the road. The bugs prevented me from conducting an extensive search, despite a bug jacket and repellant.

In its heyday of the early 1900's, Ardbeg was a booming lumber town, with a population of 800 souls. The logging boom went bust in the 1920's and Ardbeg was reduced to a near ghost town. An active rail line still runs through the village, but it no longer stops. The main industry today is tourism, from cottagers, hunters and snowmobilers.