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Fire lookout · Ulster County, New York

Tremper Mountain Fire Tower

Also known as Mount Tremper

A 1917 steel Aermotor lookout on Mount Tremper in the Catskills; closed 1971 or 1975, reopened 2001, and volunteers open the cab on weekends in season.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Catskill Fire Tower Project volunteers open the cab Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays, Memorial Day weekend through Indigenous Peoples Day weekend. Reached by a hike of about three miles from Plank Road in Phoenicia.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About three miles with roughly 2,000 ft of climbing from Plank Road in Phoenicia; the cab is open to visitors only on the volunteer days in season
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower47-ft steel Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7x7-ft metal cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1917
Height
47 ft (14.3 m)
Elevation
2,720 ft (829 m)
Agency
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Ulster County, New York
Coordinates
42.07418, −74.27767
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-tremper-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. 1917 BuiltBuilt by the New York Department of Conservation as a steel Aermotor tower; one hiking guide says it was first built elsewhere and movedSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org, catskillcenter.org
  2. 1930 StaffedA 1930 newspaper describes an observer on watch from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1930 and 1955
  4. 1955 StaffedA 1955 newspaper notice records a new person appointed in charge of the towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1955 and 1971
  6. 1971 ClosedNHLR says the tower was in active service for 54 years and closed in 1971Source: nhlr.org
  7. 1975 ClosedHMDB marker says the tower was decommissioned in 1975; this conflicts with the NHLR's 1971 dateSource: hmdb.org
  8. No record between 1975 and 1997
  9. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 28, 1997 per the NHLR recordSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2001 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places as the Mount Tremper Fire Observation StationSource: en.wikipedia.org
  11. 2001 RestoredReopened after restoration by grassroots volunteers, the Catskill Center and NYS DECSource: hmdb.org
  12. No record between 2001 and 2016
  13. 2016 AlteredNew panoramas were installed in the cab, arranged with Forest Ranger Marie Ellenbogen, to help visitors identify surrounding mountains (reported July 2016).Source: nysffla.org
  14. 2022 ClosedThe cab of Mount Tremper tower stayed closed for the 2022 season for safety, with its floor and windows needing replacement.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  15. 2022 RestoredDEC Operations staff replaced worn steps and landings and broken windows at Mount Tremper tower (June 2022 Catskill bulletin); cab stayed closed.Source: nysffla.org
  16. 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.

Tremper Mountain Fire Tower stands on the summit of Mount Tremper, above the hamlet of Phoenicia in Ulster County, New York.1,2 The New York Department of Conservation built the steel tower in 1917.3 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 47-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab.3 Wikipedia gives the same height.2 A 1917 newspaper item, quoted on a lookout history site, instead gives 65 feet.4 We could not settle which figure is right.

The tower was built to guard the Catskill Park from forest fires, and it was once part of a statewide network of more than 100 fire towers.2,5 Sources differ on whether the 1917 tower first stood on this summit. The Catskill Center says it is believed to be the original structure erected in 1917.5 A hiking guide says it was first built elsewhere and later moved here.6 We found nothing confirming a move.

For many decades, observers watched for fires from the steel cab.1 A 1930 newspaper, quoted on the same history site, describes an observer on duty from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.4 A 1955 notice records a new person in charge of the tower.4 The NHLR says the tower served for 54 years and closed in 1971.3 The marker instead says it was decommissioned in 1975, then sat unused and in disrepair until restoration began in the late 1990s.1 The two dates conflict.

Volunteers, the Catskill Center and NYS DEC reopened the tower in 2001, according to the marker.1 Wikipedia notes that the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places that same year.2 The NHLR gives a registration date of April 28, 1997.3

Today the Catskill Fire Tower Project, a program of the Catskill Center, says its fire tower cabs are open to visitors on Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays from Memorial Day weekend through Indigenous Peoples Day weekend.5 The NHLR page says a volunteer committee recruits and schedules people to man the tower on weekends and holidays.3 The marker places the trail about a mile and a half south of Main Street on Plank Road, and says the hike is about three miles with roughly 2,000 feet of climbing.1 The sources do not give a schedule beyond the season, so check with the Catskill Center before you go.

  1. Mount Tremper Fire Tower Historical Marker, Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=132245 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mount Tremper Fire Observation Station, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tremper_Fire_Observation_Station (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Tremper Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/tremper-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Mount Tremper, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/mount-tremper.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Catskill Fire Tower Project, Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, https://www.catskillcenter.org/firetowers (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Fire Towers, Catskill Hiker, https://www.catskillhiker.net/Trails/trails_firetowers.shtml (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

February 2016 photo
February 2016 photo (2016)Photo: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Tremper Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Tremper Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: Laurie Rankin, via 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. 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.