Fire lookout · Delaware County, New York
Bramley Mountain Fire Tower
80-foot Aermotor LS40 fire tower built 1950 on Bramley Mountain, NY; closed 1970, sold 1975, rebuilt by volunteers in 2024, climbable with stewards in season.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. open to visitors while volunteer stewards are on duty, weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through Indigenous Peoples' Day; pop-up openings are posted on social media
- Can you climb it?
- Yes
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- public trails reach the summit; trailhead at 3276 Glen Burnie Road, Delhi
- Staffing
- Staffed by volunteers
Facts
- Status
- sources disagree
- Type
- Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor LS40 towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1950
- Height
- 80 ft (24.4 m)
- Elevation
- 2,750 ft (838 m)
- Agency
- Clark Family
- Land
- County or city land
- Location
- Delaware County, New York
- Coordinates
- 42.29690, −74.81758
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ny-bramley-mountain
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 4.1 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
- 1950 Built80-foot Aermotor LS40 tower erected by the state conservation agency; observer's cabin added nearbySources: nhlr.org, bramleymountainfiretower.org
- 1950 First staffedFriends' history says observers served from 1950 to 1970Source: bramleymountainfiretower.org
- No record between 1950 and 1970
- 1970 Closedclosed at the end of the 1970 season as aerial detection replaced observersSources: nhlr.org, bramleymountainfiretower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1970 Last staffedlast observer named served until October 1970Source: bramleymountainfiretower.org
- 1975 Removedoffered for sale on condition the buyer remove it; Pete Clark paid $50; Clark family dismantled and stored itSources: nhlr.org, bramleymountainfiretower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1975 and 1997
- 1997 Eventa group formed as the Bramley Mountain Fire Tower Club to restore the towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1997 and 2020
- 2020 Condition assessmentOn Aug 25, 2020 the Friends of Bramley Mountain and contractor Davanna LLC inventoried and inspected the dismantled tower's parts, which are stored on a farm.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
- 2020 EventFriends of Bramley Mountain group formed in January; the Clark family donated the tower to itSources: nhlr.org, bramleymountainfiretower.org
- 2023 EventDelaware County officials agreed to partner with the Friends and take the lead as permit holder, reviving the stalled rebuilding project.Source: bramleymountainfiretower.org
- 2024 Rebuiltre-erected on its original summit; NHLR says returned fall 2024, Friends' history says completed November 2024Sources: nhlr.org, bramleymountainfiretower.org, firelookout.org
- 2025 Eventcertificate of completion issued early January 2025; initial soft opening reported in January newsletterSources: bramleymountainfiretower.org, nysffla.org
- 2025 Staffedfirst full season: volunteer stewards staffed the tower on 47 daysSource: bramleymountainfiretower.org
- 2026 Added to the National Historic Lookout Registerregistered January 2, 2026 as US 1808, NY 57Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
New York's conservation department put an 80-foot Aermotor LS40 fire tower on the summit of Bramley Mountain in 1950.1,2 The Friends' history spells the maker Aeromotor and says a three-room observer's cabin, a radio antenna and a picnic table went up nearby.2
Observers watched from the tower for about 20 years.2 The Friends' history names three observers who served between 1950 and 1970, including Theresa "Que" Aitken, one of the few female fire observers in the state.2 A visitor recalled an observer spotting a fire during their stay.2
The state closed the tower at the end of the 1970 season, as aerial detection took over the job.1,3 In 1975 it was offered for sale on condition that the buyer remove it, and Delhi dairy farmer Pete Clark paid $50.1,2,3 The Clark family took the tower apart and stored the pieces.1,2 They marked the parts for a rebuild that never happened, partly out of insurance worries.2
A local club formed in 1997 to bring the tower back.3 In January 2020 a Friends of Bramley Mountain group formed, and the Clark family donated the tower to it.1 The summit is owned by NYC's Department of Environmental Protection, which supported putting the tower back on its property.1,2 NHLR says the tower returned to the mountaintop in fall 2024.1 The Friends' history gives November 2024 as the completion date.2,4
A certificate of completion followed in early January 2025.2 The FFLA New York newsletter from that January reported an initial soft opening, after "the last piece of paperwork was finally received."5 The newsletter had promised a larger ribbon cutting in the spring.5 The Friends' site says more than 60 people attended the ribbon cutting, and it has posted video, including the full speeches from the May 2 opening ceremony.6
In 2025 volunteer stewards staffed the tower for 47 days, every weekend and holiday from Memorial Day through Indigenous Peoples' Day.6 Stewards open and close the cab and are at the summit from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting.6 Visitors have climbed it, and on the busiest day of the season 86 people did.6
The Friends counted 2,217 hikers on the trail from June through August 2025, up from 844 over the same dates in 2024.6 The trailhead is at 3276 Glen Burnie Road, Delhi.6 Pop-up openings are announced on social media, and the tower was added to the state's 2026 Catskill Fire Tower Challenge.6
- Bramley Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/bramley-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Bramley's Tower's History, Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower, https://bramleymountainfiretower.org/bramleys-towers-history/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Bramley Mountain, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bramley-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Annual Report 2025 (covering 2024), Forest Fire Lookout Association New York State Chapter, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/cr-ny-2024.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- January 2025 newsletter, Forest Fire Lookout Association New York State Chapter, https://www.nysffla.org/News2025/2025%20Jan%20final.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Bramley Mountain Fire Tower home page, Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower, https://bramleymountainfiretower.org/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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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 whether it still stands.
- FFLA: Standing
- NHLR: Standing
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com): Gone
- Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower: Standing
NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: height, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (opens another site) Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (nysffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter newsletter it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (the chapter publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower (opens another site) Gave us: ownership, staffing, dates, links Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower (bramleymountainfiretower.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the Friends' page it comes from. The position is copied from the NHLR record (the Friends publish none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports (opens another site) Gave us: links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages (opens another site) Gave us: links FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1808 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLOS register entry (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA New York lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter: work on Bramley Mountain Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower: work on Bramley Mountain Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: work on Bramley Mountain Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Bramley Mountain (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.