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Fire lookout · Monroe County, Pennsylvania

Delaware Water Gap Tower Site

Monroe County, PA steel fire tower of 1921, 60 feet tall, no longer standing; the register gives no coordinates and no source describes what remains today.

Approximate location

No source gives where this lookout stood, so the map shows it on Delaware Water Gap, the one gap of that name in Monroe County, Pennsylvania in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. A gap is a low pass, so the lookout probably stood on higher ground beside it. Know where it stood? Suggest an edit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. No longer standing, per the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register; no source describes what remains at the site today.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower, about 60 feet tallThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1921
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters
Land
Unknown
Location
Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.96760, −75.12212Approximate: placed on Delaware Water Gap (a gap), from USGS GNIS. No source gives where it stood.
This entry
UnverifiedFrom a single source and not yet checked. Details may be wrong. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-delaware-water-gap

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

From an approximate location

This view, and what it could see, are worked out from Delaware Water Gap, where the map places the lookout, not from a recorded site. The real view may differ.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.6 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 BuiltRegister gives 1921; an August 1921 item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page describes it as one of three steel towers being erected in the districtSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 StaffedTowerman Francis Kern, his wife and daughter lived in the cabin at the base (October 1934 newspaper item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 2008
  4. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008Source: firetower.org
  5. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Delaware Water Gap, in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, had a steel fire tower built in 1921.1 An item from August 1921, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, called it one of three more steel towers then being erected across the Delaware Forest District.2

The register calls it a steel Aermotor tower.1 A 1934 newspaper item, quoted on the same Forest Lookouts page, described it as a 60-foot, all-steel tower of the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters.2

In October 1934 the towerman, Francis Kern, lived with his wife and daughter in the cabin at the foot of the tower.2 On October 18 that year the towerman, interrupted in his watch by a sound on the stairs, found the couple's 19-month-old daughter near the top. He then put a barrier at the foot of the stairs.2

The register says the tower is no longer standing, and it gives no coordinates for the site.1

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the spot is open to visitors.

  1. Delaware Water Gap Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/delaware-water-gap-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Delaware Water Gap, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/delaware-water-gap.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, county, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, agency, 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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
  4. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Gave us: an approximate location, on Delaware Water Gap (a gap) USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) · Public domain

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.