Fire lookout · Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Silver Creek Fire Tower
1926 60-foot Aermotor fire tower on Broad Mountain, Blythe Township, Pennsylvania; closed by 2013 and found fenced in 2021; NHLR-registered 2004.
- Standing
- Closed
- Verified
Closed
The site is closed to visitors. Closed by 2013 for aging and vandalism; a 2021 visitor found it fenced off. No current visiting rules documented.
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?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Not staffed (as of 2021)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower60-foot steel Aermotor tower with 7x7 observation cabThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Also served as
- Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
- Built
- 1926
- Height
- 60 ft (18.3 m)
- Elevation
- 1,815 ft (553 m)
- Agency
- Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
- Land
- State land
- Location
- Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
- Coordinates
- 40.77962, −76.14417
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-pa-silver-creek
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 3.6 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
- 1926 BuiltErected spring 1926 per NHLR; c.1926 per Forest Lookouts, as a State Forestry Department towerSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1930 StaffedMrs. Warren Creasy again in charge in July 1930; had kept the tower four yearsSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1930 and 2004
- 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 11, 2004 as US 562, PA 10; nominated by Ed PollackSource: nhlr.org
- 2013 ClosedNews report of August 25, 2013: closed due to aging and vandalism; upkeep short of budget and maintenance staffSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 2021 EventJuly 2021 visitor: out of use and inside a fence that vandals had brokenSource: keepyoureyespeeled.net
- 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.
Silver Creek Fire Tower stands on Broad Mountain in Blythe Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, just south of the Weiser State Forest.1 The National Historic Lookout Register says it was erected in the spring of 1926.1 A history page on the Forest Lookouts site describes a 60-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7 observation cab, put up by the State Forestry Department.2
The tower had a keeper in its early years. A July 1930 item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page says Mrs. Warren Creasy had been in charge for four years and was back on duty that summer.2 A Sunday in May 1930 brought 51 visitors to the tower.2
During World War II the tower served as an Aircraft Warning Service station.1 A storm in the mid-1940s damaged the tower and its cab, which were then rebuilt. The new cab has an updated window design.1
By August 2013 the tower was closed. A news report blamed aging and vandalism and said that budget and maintenance staff had fallen short, though hikers still came and a park naturalist led a group hike once a month from spring to fall.2 A visitor's blog from July 2021 found it out of use and enclosed by a fence that vandals had broken, and guessed it had been shut for about twenty years.3
The sources say nothing about its condition after 2021, or whether the public may climb it. The register names the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry as administrator, but the land is now owned by Blythe Township, so both should be checked before anyone plans a visit.1 Treat the tower as closed, and do not climb it.
- Silver Creek Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/silver-creek-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Silver Creek, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/silver-creek.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- An Unexpected Hike To The Silver Creek Fire Tower In Locust Lake State Park, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/an-unexpected-hike-to-the-silver-creek-fire-tower-in-locust-lake-state-park/ (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, wartime use, 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: what it is built of, design, height, 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: ownership, 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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
More about this lookout elsewhere
- NHLR register entry US 562 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- An Unexpected Hike To The Silver Creek Fire Tower In Locust Lake State Park (Keep Your Eyes Peeled (blog, July 27, 2021)) (opens another site)
- Fire Towers of Pennsylvania StoryMap (Shawn Lesitsky) (opens another site)
- Silver Creek (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.