Pulpit Rock Tower, also known as Gun Battery Fire Control Station and Harbor Defense Unit and Base End Station #142, is a 73-foot, eight-level tower built in 1943 to help protect Portsmouth Harbor during World War II. Manned to locate enemy ships, its seventh and eighth floors were used to observe targets and transmit range data to Fort Dearborn. It had two base end stations: the seventh floor for Battery Seaman 104 at Frost Point with 16-inch rifles, Mark II - M1, and the eighth floor for Battery 204 at Odiorne Point with 6-inch rifles, T2-M1. The tower's utilities, now removed, included electricity, a coal stove, and a telephone line to Fort Dearborn, and its key equipment included a Depression Position Finder scope, azimuth, and plotting materials. Fourteen towers were needed to protect Portsmouth Harbor during World War II. Pulpit Rock Tower is now owned by the State of New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, after being acquired at no cost from the Federal Government through the General Services Administration as Historic Surplus Property on March 30, 1978. Restoration work has included hand rails and hazardous waste removal in 2009, secure doors and interior painting in 2010, a new roof and top deck railings in 2013, and custom windows in 2016. The Friends of Pulpit Rock Tower, Inc., a New Hampshire not-for-profit organization, decided to restore the tower and provide public access. Pulpit Rock Tower is a National Historic Monument, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and continues to be monitored by the National Park Service with biannual reports filed by the Friends of Pulpit Rock Tower, Inc.
