Ole Stone Observation Tower in Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina

Since the late 1800s, when logging on the mountain began to give way to tourism, there has been some type of structure on Mount Mitchell's summit. In 1888, a 12-foot-high bronze monument marked the grave of Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a UNC geology professor who died in 1857 while trying to verify the mountain's elevation. By 1915, a ladder about 15 feet high stood mounted on three poles that formed a pyramid-shaped base. In 1916, at the time Mount Mitchell State Park was created, the state built a covered wooden platform about 15 feet high. That was replaced n 1926 with a stone tower in a medieval design motif.