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Fire lookout · Greene County, New York

Hunter Mountain Lookout

Hunter Mountain's 1917 Aermotor LS-40 tower, the state's oldest active fire-watch site (begun 1909), was nearly removed in the 1990s but was restored and is now a volunteer-run weekend museum.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Reached via marked NYSDEC hiking trails shared with equestrian use; cab staffed by volunteers on some weekends.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Marked DEC-blazed trail to the summit; water and shelter available about a mile below the summit.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40, 60-foot steel tower; preceded by a 1909 wooden tower built from timbers found on the summitThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1909
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
4,040 ft (1,231 m)
Agency
NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Greene County, New York
Coordinates
42.17740, −74.23060
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-hunter-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 3.8 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. 1909 BuiltFirst fire-observation station established on Hunter Mountain, a wooden tower built from timbers found on the mountaintop, about 40 feet below the true summit, at 4,000 feet elevation.Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1917 RebuiltPresent 60-foot steel Aermotor LS-40 tower erected next to the original wood tower site.Source: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1917 and 1950
  4. 1950 MovedTower dismantled and re-erected at its current location on the true summit (4,040 feet).Source: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1950 and 1995
  6. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: July 15, 1995Source: NHLR register entry
  7. 1997 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places after DEC had recommended the deteriorated tower for removal in the 1990s.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  8. 2000 RestoredHunter Mountain tower reopened October 17, 2000 after restoration under the Catskill Fire Tower Project.Source: nysffla.org
  9. No record between 2000 and 2016
  10. 2016 AlteredVolunteer John Slechta installed a new alidade map (made by Liz Cruz) showing local features in the cab over Memorial Day weekend 2016.Source: nysffla.org
  11. 2017 ClosedFrom July 10, 2017 DEC closed the tower to the public on weekdays (open weekends) during rehabilitation work; the trails stayed open.Source: nysffla.org
  12. 2017 RestoredTower turned 100 years old; centennial marked with a plaque dedicated to past observers, attended by the last known surviving observer.Source: nhlr.org
  13. 2018 RestoredNYSDEC Region 4 Operations staff built a new front porch on the observer's cabin in summer 2018.Source: nysffla.org
  14. 2025 RestoredDEC Region 4 installed new windows and siding on the observer's cabin as part of a large cabin preservation effort.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  15. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Hunter Mountain has carried a fire-watch post longer than almost anywhere else in the Catskills. New York's Forest, Fish and Game Commission set up the first station there in 1909, built from timbers found right on the mountaintop, about 40 feet below the true summit.1 It was one of the earliest fire-detection stations the state ever ran, part of a program the commission launched after severe drought fires in 1903 and 1908 pushed the state to copy Maine's network of observation towers.2

The wooden tower didn't last. In 1917 the state put up the steel Aermotor LS-40 tower that still stands today, 60 feet tall, going up beside where the wood tower had been.1 For a time it stayed put at that same 4,000-foot level; only in 1950 did crews take it apart and reassemble it where it sits now, on the mountain's actual high point at 4,040 feet.1 That history makes it the earliest of 23 fire towers New York State would go on to build in the region, and today it holds the record as the tallest-elevation fire tower left standing in the state.2

The tower fell into disrepair by the 1990s, badly enough that the DEC, which had run it, recommended tearing it down.2 Instead, it earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and a push by local supporters, with the DEC putting up matching funds, paid to bring both the tower and its observer's cabin back into shape.2 In 2017 the tower turned 100, marked with a plaque honoring its observers and attended by the last known surviving one.1

Today Hunter Mountain Fire Tower works as a volunteer-run museum piece rather than an active fire lookout. Since 1996 it's been part of the Catskill Fire Tower Project, a partnership between the DEC, conservation groups, and local fire-tower committees, and volunteers staff the cab on weekends from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.1 It's reached by marked DEC hiking trails shared with horses, with water and shelter about a mile below the summit.1

  1. Hunter Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/hunter-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Hunter Mountain Fire Tower, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Mountain_Fire_Tower (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

June 2019 photo
June 2019 photo (2019)Photo: David Lemmo, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Wood Tower 1909
Wood Tower 1909 (1909)Photo: NYS-DEC (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower & Cabin 2/27/05
Tower & Cabin 2/27/05Photo: Warren Johnsen (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Flyover 1978
Flyover 1978 (1978)Photo: NYS-DEC (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Hunter Mountain Fire Tower Cabin Centennial Celebration 8/19/2017
Hunter Mountain Fire Tower Cabin Centennial Celebration 8/19/2017 (2017)Photo: Hunter Mountain Fire Tower Committee, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Hunter Mountain Lookout
Photo: The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia ., via Wikimedia Commons · GFDL · 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, 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. Map and Coordinates List for NYS DEC Firetowers (Andy Arthur) Gave us: ownership, links Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org (CC BY 3.0) · CC BY 3.0, credit: Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org. Facts + short description text reused under that licence. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter 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
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports 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
  6. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  8. 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.