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Fire lookout · Passaic County, Washington

Pierson Ridge Tower Site

Also known as Lorena Butte

Ringwood State Park, NJ tower site: a 1920 Windbeam Mountain tower moved here in 1971, later destroyed by vandals; remains rebuilt at Ramapo Mountain State Forest from 1983.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Lefever

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Tower destroyed by vandals at Pierson Ridge; its remains were rebuilt at Ramapo Mountain State Forest from 1983

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. On Ramapo Mountain State Forest land; the 2007 visit report says directions to the tower are not signed. No closure or climbing rule is described in the sources read.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2007)

Facts

Status
Moved sources disagree
Type
Ground-level cab60' Aeromotor LS-42 tower with 7'x7' steel cab (Pierson Ridge entry); the Ramapo entry gives LS-40 with 7'x7' cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Steel
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,291 ft (698 m)
Agency
New Jersey Division of Parks & Forestry (Pierson Ridge entry); NJ Forest Fire Service (Ramapo entry)
Land
Unknown
Location
Passaic County, Washington
Coordinates
45.80072, −120.79420
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-pierson-ridge

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.0 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. 1920 BuiltErected on Windbeam Mountain with funds from the Ringwood Company, overlooking the Wanaque ValleySources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  2. No record between 1920 and 1971
  3. 1971 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  4. 1971 MovedMoved to Ringwood State Park (Pierson Ridge) by National Guard and volunteer laborSources: firetower.org, firetower.org
  5. 1983 RebuiltRebuilt at Ramapo Mountain State Forest beginning in 1983; occupies its present location since thenSources: firetower.org, nhlr.org
  6. 1983 MovedRemains removed to Ramapo Mountain State ForestSources: firetower.org, firetower.org, nhlr.org
  7. 1992 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRamapo Lookout registered July 2, 1992 as US 45, NJ 2Source: nhlr.org
  8. No record between 1992 and 2007
  9. 2007 Condition assessmentNHLR visit report (Bob Spear): paint chipping in areas; listed as staffed; directions to tower not signedSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2014 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterPierson Ridge Tower Site registered April 16, 2014 as US 1549, NJ 1; nominated by Bob SpearSource: firetower.org
  11. 2014 EventWindbeam entry says the tower remained in active use at Ramapo Mountain as of 2014Source: firetower.org
  12. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Lefever.Source: FFLA
  13. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Pierson Ridge Tower Site is in Ringwood State Park, in Passaic County, New Jersey.1 The tower that once stood there was first put up on Windbeam Mountain.1,2

The Ringwood Company paid for that first tower, built in 1920 to overlook the historic Wanaque Valley, and Section 2 personnel operated it.2

In 1971 the tower was moved to Ringwood State Park, a job done with National Guard and volunteer labor.1 The Pierson Ridge register entry describes it as a 60-foot Aeromotor LS-42 with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab.1 A second register entry, for the Ramapo Lookout, says the tower was once called the Wind-beam Lookout and gives its model as LS-40.3 The sources do not settle which model number is right.

Vandals later destroyed the tower at Pierson Ridge, and the register does not say when.1 Its remains were taken to Ramapo Mountain State Forest, where the structure was rebuilt from 1983.1

The sources I read do not describe staffing at the Pierson Ridge site. A 2007 visit report on the Ramapo tower lists it as staffed.3

Today the rebuilt tower has stood at Ramapo Mountain State Forest since 1983, just south of the New York state line.3 The 2007 visit report notes that the paint is chipping in places and that directions to the tower are not signed.3 A later register page says the tower was still in active use at Ramapo as of 2014.2 No source I read says what, if anything, marks the Pierson Ridge spot now, and none say whether visitors may climb the Ramapo tower.1,3

  1. Pierson Ridge Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/nj/pierson-ridge-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Windbeam Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/nj/windbeam-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Ramapo Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nj/ramapo-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pierson Ridge Tower Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lorena Butte in 1989
Lorena Butte in 1989 (1989)Photo: Rex Kamstra and Craig Willis, via firelookout.com · source
Lorena Butte in 2013
Lorena Butte in 2013 (2013)Photo: Rex Kamstra and Craig Willis, via firelookout.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • FFLOS: 1971
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1954

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, county, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, 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 Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: location, 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. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: elevation, photos, links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

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