GREENFIELD — Poet’s Seat Tower is closed for the foreseeable future, pending further inspection by a structural engineer to determine what repairs are needed after a building inspector’s visual examination found cracks and degraded welds.

Mayor’s Office Communications Director Jonathon Weber said an engineer has not yet been hired, and a timeline for repairing and reopening the tower is not clear.

“We had a building inspector go into the tower on Thursday. He did a visual inspection and recommended the structure be closed,” Weber said. “The next step will be to have a structural engineer come in and outline the specific structural deficiencies.”

Weber said that while looking at the tower, the building inspector saw cracks, including one running from the I-beam under the observation deck to the arched window below, degraded welds and gaps in stair treads, and crumbling mortar. A further, more detailed assessment is necessary to determine repair costs.

A degraded weld with a gap on a tread of the stairs within Poet’s Seat Tower. Credit: SCREENSHOT / City of Greenfield
A crack in the wall of Poet’s Seat Tower. Credit: SCREENSHOT / City of Greenfield

Weber said the city plans to reopen the tower as soon as possible and will provide updates once more is known about what the repairs will look like.

Recreation Director Christy Moore said the closure and pending repairs would not impede the city’s annual Independence Day celebrations, and crews will still be able to access the site to set up the fireworks from the parking lot as is tradition.

The sandstone tower as it appears today was constructed in 1912, replacing the prior wooden structure that was built in the late 1800s. The tower was named for Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, a local poet who died in 1873. He was known for going up the hill to the highest point in Greenfield and being inspired by the view.

Over the more than 100 years the tower has been standing, it has undergone multiple repairs. According to Greenfield Recorder archives in 2017, the tower underwent approximately $50,000 worth of cracked mortar replacement, replacing loose stones and sills. In 2010, repairs were needed to the lighting system, and in 1977, the tower underwent approximately $22,000 in repairs to the railings.

Madison Schofield is the Greenfield beat reporter. She graduated from George Mason University, where she studied communications and journalism. She can be reached at 413-930-4429 or mschofield@recorder.com.