FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Orange County, New York

Black Rock Forest Fire Tower

Also known as Black Rock

Black Rock Forest tower, Orange County NY: NHLR gives a 1929 erection and 1933 build year, 80 ft Aermotor LS-42; a 2007 visit found no roof and no public access.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Not accessible to the public; lower landing locked; entry by permission of the Forest Manager (2007 visit report)

Visit & stay

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

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Contact the Forest Manager at the Black Rock Forest office (2007 visit report)
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-42, 80 ft, with 7x7 metal cab (NHLR)The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
398 ft (121 m)
Agency
Black Rock Forest Consortium
Land
Unknown
Location
Orange County, New York
Coordinates
41.36985, −74.10088 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-black-rock-forest

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 3.3 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. 1927 EventDr. Ernest G. Stillman established the forest (context for the tower's owner, not the tower itself)Source: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1929 BuiltNHLR description: erected in 1929 as a private lookout on the Stillman estateSource: nhlr.org
  3. 1933 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1933 EventNHLR Built field gives 1933; this conflicts with the 1929 erection date in the NHLR descriptionSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1933 and 1989
  6. 1989 EventOwnership transferred to the Black Rock Forest ConsortiumSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  7. No record between 1989 and 2006
  8. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on December 15, 2006Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2007 Condition assessmentVisit report dated May 1, 2007: no roof; staffed sometimes; not accessible to the public; entry by permissionSource: 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Black Rock Forest Fire Tower stands in Orange County, New York, at an elevation of 398 feet.1 The register gives two build dates. Its description says the tower went up in 1929 as a private lookout on the Stillman property, while its Built field gives 1933.1 The register lists it as an Aermotor LS-42, 80 feet tall, with a metal cab measuring 7 by 7 feet.1

The forest's history explains who owned the land. Dr. Ernest G. Stillman established the forest in 1927, and Harvard University owned it from 1949 until 1989.2 The register says ownership passed to the Black Rock Forest Consortium in 1989.1

The register says restoration was finished everywhere but the roof.1 A visit report dated May 1, 2007 found that the tower had no roof. It marked the tower as staffed sometimes, and noted a surveillance camera and weather instruments mounted on it for the forest's use.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association still lists the tower as standing, though its entry carries an asterisk whose note I could not read.3

The sources I reached do not record a fire that struck this tower.

The 2007 report says the tower is not open to the public.1 It describes a locked lower landing, with entry only by the forest manager's permission, so please contact the Black Rock Forest office rather than climbing it.1

  1. Black Rock Forest Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/black-rock-forest-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Black Rock Forest, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rock_Forest (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. New York Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ny/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Black Rock Forest Fire Tower
Photo: 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 7.1 km (4.4 mi).

    • NHLR: 41.36985, −74.10088
    • FFLA: 41.39749, −74.02395

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. 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.