FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Monroe County, Pennsylvania

Big Pocono Lookout (2017)

Also known as Big Pocono

A 40-ft steel tower built in 2017 in Big Pocono State Park, replacing a 1921 21-ft Aermotor LS 40 that was moved to Grey Towers for restoration.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower40 ft steel tower (2017), maker not named; predecessor was a 21 ft Aermotor LS 40 steel tower with 7 x 7 ft cab (1921)The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1921
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
2,083 ft (635 m)
Agency
Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
Land
State land
Location
Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.04190, −75.35250
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-big-pocono-2017

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 3.5 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. 1921 Built21 ft steel tower with 7 x 7 ft cab erected on Big Pocono; Pike County Courier gives 1919 and 35 ft, and a 1921 newspaper expected 20 ftSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, pikecountycourier.com
  2. No record between 1921 and 2017
  3. 2017 MovedOld tower moved to Grey Towers National Historic Site, the former home of Gifford PinchotSources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org, pikecountycourier.com
  4. 2017 RemovedOld 21 ft tower disassembled as part of Pennsylvania's fire tower network upgradeSource: nhlr.org
  5. 2017 Replaced by a new structure40 ft steel replacement tower built on the site as part of the upgradeSources: nhlr.org, nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 2018 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNew tower registered on the National Historic Lookout Register January 15, 2018 as US 1264Source: nhlr.org
  7. 2018 Replaced by a new structureSource: Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky)
  8. 2019 RestoredGrey Towers project reassembled the old tower's restored cab in summer 2019; the register had expected re-erection in 2018 and the project planned placement in 2021Sources: nhlr.org, greytowers.org
  9. 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 Big Pocono Lookout that stands today is a 40-foot steel tower in Big Pocono State Park, Monroe County, Pennsylvania.1,2,3 The park site sits next to the Camelback Ski Area.2 The tower replaced a 21-foot steel predecessor from 1921, an Aermotor LS 40 with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,3,4 Sources disagree on its first height and date. A 1921 newspaper item expected a 20-foot tower, and a 2017 Pike County Courier article says the old tower was first installed in 1919 and stood 35 feet high.3,5

The 1921 tower was one of three new steel fire towers going up in the Delaware Forest District that year, according to a Forest Leaves note.3 The register calls it typical of Pennsylvania fire towers built between 1914 and 1939, and notes that it is thought to be the oldest one still in use.2 The site also includes a helicopter base for fighting fires, used in the fire season.2

A Pike County Courier article adds that Pennsylvania rangers once watched over the land by climbing towers of this kind.5

In 2017 Pennsylvania took the 1921 tower down under a plan to improve its fire tower network, and the 40-foot tower was built that year.1,2 The old tower went to Grey Towers National Historic Site, the home of Gifford Pinchot, where the register said restoration and re-erection were planned for 2018.2 The Grey Towers project says the cab was taken apart in summer 2018 and put back together in summer 2019, and it plans to place the tower in 2021, so the dates in the sources do not line up.4

Today the register lists the new tower as US 1264, registered on January 15, 2018.1 Whether the public can climb the new tower is not confirmed in these sources. Grey Towers plans to use the restored old tower for public education, and the Pike County Courier reported that group access to its top cab would be supervised.4,5

  1. Big Pocono Lookout (2017), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/big-pocono-lookout-2017/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Big Pocono Lookout (1921), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/big-pocono-lookout-1921/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Big Pocono - Forest Lookouts, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/big-pocono.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Fire Tower Restoration Project, greytowers.org, https://greytowers.org/fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Big Pocono fire tower migrates to Grey Towers, Pike County Courier, https://www.pikecountycourier.com/news/local-news/big-pocono-fire-tower-migrates-to-grey-towers-HTPC20171102171109978 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Big Pocono Lookout (2017)
Photo: Brandon Smith, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Big Pocono
Big PoconoPhoto: Shawn Lesitsky -- PA Fire Towers StoryMap (Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps) · source
Photo of Big Pocono Lookout (2017)
Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli from Pennsylvania, USA, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · 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, type, status, 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. Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, ownership, dates, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) 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
  4. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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.