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Fire lookout · Putnam County, New York

Mount Nimham Fire Tower

Also known as Ninham Mountain

An 82-foot-6-inch CCC-built tower from 1940 on Mount Nimham; closed 1989, restored by Town of Kent volunteers by 2005, now a radio repeater site open to hikers.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Wikipedia says the tower is still open to the public; the NHLR says it is fairly accessible and draws many visitors; the Town of Kent guide maps a hike from the DEC parking area on Gipsy Trail.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Moderate hike of about an hour from the DEC parking area on Gipsy Trail to the upper parking area, then 20 to 25 minutes to the tower, per the Town of Kent guide.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerInternational Derrick LS-40 steel tower, 82 ft 6 in, with a 7 x 7 ft metal cabThe designs: Aermotor LS-40, IDECO
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1940
Height
82 ft (25.1 m)
Elevation
1,340 ft (408 m)
Agency
New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Putnam County, New York
Coordinates
41.46110, −73.72494
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-mount-nimham

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. 1940 BuiltBuilt by the State of New York and the CCC; Wikipedia credits CCC Camp P-135 of PeekskillSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1941 First staffedFirst staffed for fire lookout purposes; reported 73 fires and 266 visitorsSource: en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1941 and 1988
  4. 1988 Last staffedCeased fire lookout operations at the end of the 1988 seasonSource: en.wikipedia.org
  5. 1989 ClosedOfficially closed in early 1989 by the New York State Department of Environmental ConservationSource: en.wikipedia.org
  6. 1994 FireVandals burned the observer's cabinSource: nhlr.org
  7. 1994 EventThe Nimham observer's cabin was burned in 1994, years after the tower stopped operating.Source: nysffla.org
  8. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 21, 1999 as NHLR US 314Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2005 RestoredVolunteer restoration organized by the Town of Kent in the mid-1990s was completed in spring 2005; dedication July 24, 2005Source: en.wikipedia.org
  10. 2015 RestoredThe spongy 1940 plank cab floor and the railing round the trap door were replaced in two days in early May, with the tower closed briefly, at a cost under $800.Source: thekcf.org
  11. 2017 RestoredThe Kent Conservation Foundation replaced all the wood on the 82-foot-6-inch tower in 2017 (reported).Source: nysffla.org
  12. 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 fire tower on Mount Nimham in Putnam County went up in 1940, built by the state and the Civilian Conservation Corps.1 Wikipedia credits CCC Camp P-135 of Peekskill with the work and gives the steel tower a height of 82 feet 6 inches, or 25.15 meters.2 The mountain is named for Chief Daniel Nimham, and its spelling was recently corrected from the older "Ninham."2

The tower was first staffed in 1941, and that year it recorded 73 fires and 266 visitors.2 Fire lookout work stopped after the 1988 season, and early in 1989 the state's Department of Environmental Conservation made the closure official.2 In 1994 vandals set fire to the observer's cabin.1

Around the mid-1990s, the Town of Kent rallied volunteers to bring the tower back. The restoration was completed in spring 2005 and dedicated on July 24 of that year.2 The National Historic Lookout Register had already listed the tower in October 1999.1

It has not been used for fire detection for many years; it now serves as a radio repeater site.1 According to the NHLR, the Town of Kent owns the tower, and volunteers help keep it up.1 Wikipedia says it is still open to the public.2

To reach it, the Town of Kent's trail guide describes a moderate, hour-long walk from the DEC lot on Gipsy Trail up to the upper parking area.3 From there, the hike to the tower takes about 20 to 25 minutes.3 The guide says the view from the top is worth the climb.3

  1. Mount Nimham Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/mount-nimham-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Nimham, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nimham (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mount Nimham Fire Tower, Town of Kent Conservation Advisory Committee, https://kentcac.info/wp/hikes/mount-nimham-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Nimham Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mount Nimham Fire Tower
Photo: Dick Eckler (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mount Nimham Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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 LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) 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
  5. 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
  6. Kent Conservation Foundation Gave us: dates, links Kent Conservation Foundation (thekcf.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 Foundation's post it comes from. The position is copied from the NHLR record (the Foundation publishes none). · retrieved 8 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

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