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Fire lookout · Essex County, New Jersey

Old Sentinel Tower

Essex County, NJ watershed tower, a 100-foot Blaw-Knox type steel tower possibly dating to 1904 or 1909; NHLR-registered 2016; on private land, not open to the public.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On private watershed land; the Register says it is not open to the public

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Private land, not open to the public
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Blaw-Knox type steel tower with an inside stairway added later; the cab held a table and a dial telephoneThe design: Blaw-Knox
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1909
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
235 ft (72 m)
Agency
Orange Watershed Commission (administrator per NHLR); built under Roswell M. Roper on the East Orange watershed
Land
Unknown
Location
Essex County, New Jersey
Coordinates
40.76538, −74.33458
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nj-old-sentinel

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

Downloads about 3.6 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1904 EventNHLR and the 2016 Spear account say the tower may have been built as early as 1904Sources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org
  2. 1909 Built1990s article: the first, smaller tower on the site was built in 1909; three of its footings remain under the larger tower, which probably went up in the 1920s at an unknown exact dateSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1909 and 1945
  4. 1945 Staffed1945 American Forests article: the observer could throw a switch to start a siren at headquarters a mile awaySource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1945 and 1998
  6. 1998 Condition assessmentRegister: the cab still contained a dial telephone in 1998 but had no fire finderSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1998 and 2016
  8. 2016 Condition assessmentHistorian Bob Spear's April 2016 visit: small table and old dial telephone in the cab; windows still intact; the resident was the son of the observer during bad fire weatherSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2016 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 27, 2016 as US 1052, NJ 25Source: nhlr.org
  10. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Old Sentinel Tower stands on private watershed land in New Jersey, hidden in mature forest. The Register calls it a 100-foot Blaw-Knox tower and says it is not open to the public.1

Sources disagree on the town. The Register places it in Essex County.1 A 1990s article's heading says Livingston, another part of the same article gives Northfield Avenue in Orange,2 and a 2016 account puts it in East Orange.3

Most of the history runs through Roswell M. Roper, who was water engineer and general manager for East Orange.4 A 1945 magazine article, reprinted by the Register, says Roper erected a 100-foot fire lookout tower on the land.4

The dates are not settled. The Register says the tower may have been built as early as 1904, and the 2016 account gives the same date.1,3 The 1990s article says the first, smaller tower on the site went up in 1909, and that three of its concrete footings still sit beneath the larger steel tower.2 It dates the larger tower to probably the 1920s, but says the exact date is unknown.2

The 1945 article says the observer could throw a switch to sound a siren at the headquarters, one mile off.4 The 1990s article doubts that the tower ever worked with the state fire towers.2

Inside the cab, the Register says a dial telephone was still there in 1998, though there was no fire finder.1 In April 2016 a Forest Fire Lookout Association historian found a small table and an old dial telephone in the cab, and noted that all the windows were still intact.3 The same account says the resident he met was the son of the man who served as observer during bad fire weather.3

The Register adds that the tower never worked alongside the State Network.1 A note in the reprinted 1945 article says the tower was still standing, but the note gives no date.4 The Register registered the tower on May 27, 2016, and lists the Orange Watershed Commission as administrator.1

It sits on private land and is not open to the public.1 Please keep off the property and do not try to climb it.

  1. Old Sentinel Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/old-sentinel-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. 1990's article adapted to New Jersey's forest fire lookouts, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/images/lookout_photos/ID1199_Old_Sentinel/1990sArticle.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Old Sentinel Fire Tower, Bob Spear, Forest Fire Lookout Association, April 2016, http://nhlr.org/images/lookout_photos/ID1199_Old_Sentinel/spear2016.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Community Forest Builder, Nelson C. Brown, American Forests, April 1945, reprinted by the National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/images/lookout_photos/ID1199_Old_Sentinel/CommunityForestBuilder.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Old Sentinel Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bing Maps Birds Eye Imagery
Bing Maps Birds Eye ImageryPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower stairs
Tower stairsPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Trap door counterweights
Trap door counterweightsPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Inside the cab
Inside the cabPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.