Fire lookout · Orange County, New York
Sterling Fire Tower
Also known as Sterling Mountain
Built 1922 by area fire wardens on the Harriman estate in Sterling Forest; NRHP-listed 2006; closed to the public pending engineering inspection.
- Standing
- Closed
- Verified
Closed
The site is closed to visitors. Closed to the public pending an engineering inspection, per the NYS chapter's annual report (2023 activity) and an undated chapter homepage notice.
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.
- Can you climb it?
- No
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Several trails lead to the tower; it is closed, so it should not be climbed.
- Staffing
- Staffed by volunteers (as of 2021)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower60-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7x7-foot steel cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1922
- Height
- 60 ft (18.3 m)
- Elevation
- 1,320 ft (402 m)
- Agency
- NY State Parks (Sterling Forest State Park)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Orange County, New York
- Coordinates
- 41.19477, −74.27810
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ny-sterling
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
- 1922 BuiltBuilt in fall 1922 by area fire wardens on the Harriman family's Sterling Park estate; a January 1923 report says erection was still being completed; first used spring 1923Sources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1930 StaffedPeter Sarneckey begins his seventh season watching from the tower (March 1930 newspaper notice)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1930 and 1968
- 1968 AlteredTower and cabin improved; new access road bulldozed; phone line carried on 38 numbered cedar polesSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1968 and 1995
- 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register as US 102, NY 4Source: nhlr.org
- 2006 FireRadio log of July 30, 2006 has the Sterling tower told of a Harriman fire past 700 acres with no controlSource: nhlr.org
- 2006 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesPlaced on the historic register with the observers' cabin (register: June 12, 2006, under its Federal Register wording); the NPS National Register record gives 7/28/2006 as its publication dateSources: nhlr.org, npgallery.nps.gov
- 2015 RestoredRestoration project under way, aiming to reopen the tower to the public with a volunteer steward presenceSource: nysffla.org
- 2017 ClosedThe tower was reported closed to the public in early 2017, and the FFLA was working to reverse the closure (reported February 2017).Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org
- 2017 EventFFLA restoration grant awarded for work on the Sterling Forest tower: new steps and landings, cab window reglazing, railings and fencing, cab repainting and ground cabin repairs ($500).Sources: firelookout.org, firelookout.org
- 2017 RestoredWork parties replace all of the tower's lumber and repair the observers' cabinSource: nhlr.org
- 2019 RestoredNew cab windows were made and fitted (fixed ones first, then the operating ones), paid for by ADK North Jersey/Ramapo; a volunteer stained the observer's cabin deck.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
- 2021 StaffedTower open 35 days; 16 volunteer stewards greeted over 800 visitorsSource: nysffla.org
- 2022 Condition assessmentThe engineer's inspection of the closed Sterling Forest tower was completed by August 2022, with the report still awaited.Source: nysffla.org
- 2022 ClosedSterling Forest tower closed to the public pending an engineer's structural inspection, the same situation as Jackie Jones; still closed in late 2023.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
- 2023 ClosedListed as currently closed pending engineering inspection in the chapter's annual report covering 2023; the report's date is not the closure date, and the start of closure is not in the sources readSources: firelookout.org, nysffla.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.
Sterling Fire Tower stands on Rough Mountain above Sterling Lake, inside Sterling Forest State Park near Greenwood Lake.1,2 Area fire wardens built it in the fall of 1922 on the Harriman family's Sterling Park estate, and the register describes a 60-foot Aermotor LS-40 with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab.1 Older reports call the ridge Sterling Mountain.3 A state report written in January 1923 said the erection was still being completed, and a newspaper item from the same month called it a new sixty-foot steel tower.3 The register says it was first used in the spring of 1923.1
In its first year the tower logged 137 visitors, and it and its companion, the Jackie Jones tower, spotted 104 fires between them.1 By March 1930 a local paper was noting that Peter Sarneckey was beginning his seventh season watching from it.3 In 1968 the tower and cabin were improved, and a new access road was bulldozed to the site, with a phone line carried on 38 numbered cedar poles.1
The register gives June 12, 2006, as the date the tower and its observers' cabin were placed on the historic register.1 The National Park Service record for the National Register listing gives 7/28/2006 as its publication date, so the two dates do not match.2 A radio log dated July 30, 2006, posted by the register, has the Sterling tower being told that a fire in Harriman had passed 700 acres with no control.4
A comment on the register page says the state park refused volunteer help and the tower was left without regular upkeep.1 A restoration project under way in 2015 aimed to reopen the tower to the public with a volunteer steward presence.5 Work parties replaced all of the tower's lumber in 2017 and repaired the observers' cabin.1 The FFLA's January 2022 report covers 2021, when the tower was open 35 days and 16 volunteer stewards welcomed more than 800 visitors.5
The chapter's annual report for 2023 lists Sterling among seven New York towers that are closed while engineering inspections are awaited.6 The report adds that in some cases the inspections have been done without a written report.6 Its homepage repeats the notice, with no date beside it.7
The tower was still standing in the latest sources read, and several trails lead to it.1,6 The 2023 chapter report and an undated homepage notice list it as closed to the public pending inspection, and they do not say when it might reopen.6,7 Do not climb it while it is closed, and check with Sterling Forest State Park before planning a visit.
- Sterling Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/sterling-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin, National Register Information System 06000644, National Park Service NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/06000644 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Sterling Mountain, New York Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/sterling-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- 7/30/2006 Radio Transcript, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/media/3024/7-30-2006-radio-transcript.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- January 2022 report, Forest Fire Lookout Association New York State Chapter, https://www.nysffla.org/News2022/2022%20Jan%20final.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Forest Fire Lookout Association New York State Chapter Annual Report (2023 activity), https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cr-ny-2023.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Fire Towers of New York State, FFLA New York State Chapter, https://www.nysffla.org/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- 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: 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports (opens another site) Gave us: dates, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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 102 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- NHLR register entry US 102 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin, NRIS 06000644 (National Park Service NPGallery) (opens another site)
- Fire Towers of New York State (FFLA New York State Chapter) (opens another site)
- FFLA New York lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter: work on Sterling Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: work on Sterling Fire Tower (opens another site)
- Sterling 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.