Fire lookout · Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Pondfield Fire Tower
Also known as Pondfield 2 Lookout Tower
An 80-ft tower on Chestnut Ridge in Forbes State Forest, built 1935, closed to the public and in need of major repairs.
- Standing
- Closed
- Verified
Closed
The site is closed to visitors. Closed to the general public for several years as of 2016 (Herald-Standard). TribLIVE also says it is closed to the public and locked when not in use. The register says the stairs would need replacing before any public reopening.
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
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabConstructed by the Marshal McClintock Company; erected by Civilian Conservation Corps crews (register)The designs: McClintic-Marshall, Aermotor
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1935
- Height
- 80 ft (24.4 m)
- Elevation
- 2,713 ft (827 m)
- Agency
- Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
- Land
- State land
- Location
- Fayette County, Pennsylvania
- Coordinates
- 39.78230, −79.70033
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-pa-pondfield
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
- 1935 BuiltConstructed by the Marshal McClintock Company and erected by CCC crews. TribLIVE gives 1937 as the erection year.Sources: nhlr.org, heraldstandard.com, archive.triblive.com
- No record between 1935 and 1960
- 1960 Last staffedSources disagree on the last staffed year. TribLIVE quotes an inspector: someone was there until the 1960s. The register says staffed until the 1970s. The Herald-Standard says unmanned since the 1960s.Sources: nhlr.org, heraldstandard.com, archive.triblive.com
- No record between 1960 and 2016
- 2016 ClosedClosed to the general public for several years as of the 2016 Herald-Standard reportSource: heraldstandard.com
- 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 1765, PA 72Source: nhlr.org
- 2024 EventRegister visit report (Dec 27, 2024): stairs rough but usable, cab ceiling caving slightly, tower and cabin need major repairsSource: nhlr.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.
The Pondfield Fire Tower stands on Chestnut Ridge, beside Skyline Drive, in Fayette County's Forbes State Forest.1,2 It is 80 feet tall.3
The Marshal McClintock Company built it in 1935, and Civilian Conservation Corps crews erected it.1,3 TribLIVE gives 1937 as the year it went up.2 A ground cabin for the watchman sat beside the tower.1
The register says watchman jobs were seasonal, paid poorly, and usually held by farmers and housewives.1 Before radio towers, someone manned the tower during heavy fire seasons.3 Sources disagree on when the staffing ended. An inspector told TribLIVE that someone was posted there until the 1960s.2 The register says it was staffed until the 1970s.1
By 2016 the Herald-Standard reported that the general public had been kept out of the tower for several years. It had once been a stop on the forest's annual open house.3 The register says the tower is now used for educational purposes, and TribLIVE says the cabin and grounds are used for historical purposes.1,2 A 2016 state plan to replace up to 25 fire towers did not include Pondfield.3
A December 2024 visit report in the register found the stairs in rough but usable shape and the cab ceiling caving in slightly. It says the tower and cabin need major repairs.1 Radio transmitters are mounted on the cab, and the visitor said that, as far as they could tell, they were not in use.1
The National Historic Lookout Register listed the tower as US 1765 on December 5, 2023.1
TribLIVE also says the tower is locked when idle and off-limits to visitors.2 The register says the stairs should be replaced if it ever reopens to the public.1 Please do not climb the closed tower.
- Pondfield Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/pondfield-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Fire tower stands guard over Forbes State Forest, TribLIVE, https://archive.triblive.com/news/fire-tower-stands-guard-over-forbes-state-forest/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Pondfield firetower offers glimpse into the past, Herald-Standard, https://www.heraldstandard.com/news/2016/oct/24/pondfield-firetower-offers-glimpse-into-the-past/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) (opens another site) Gave us: design, height, ownership, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1765 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Pondfield firetower offers glimpse into the past (Herald-Standard) (opens another site)
- Fire tower stands guard over Forbes State Forest (TribLIVE) (opens another site)
- Fire Towers of Pennsylvania StoryMap (Shawn Lesitsky) (opens another site)
- Pondfield (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 357349237 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.