Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin
Built in 1922. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. 12 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1891.
From the record
“The Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin is a historic fire observation station located on Sterling Mountain in Sterling Forest State Park at Greenwood Lake in Orange County, New York. Located at an elevation of 1,320 ft (400 m), the station includes a 60-foot-tall (18 m), steel-frame lookout tower erected in 1922 and an observer's cabin built about 1934.”
Wikipedia article Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 187 National Register listings published here for Orange County · listed in 2006 · category: Structure · built in 1922.
National Register reference number.06000644- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
322 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 322 fires within 5 miles of Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 453 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 30 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
169
Recreation and ceremony
41
Arson/incendiarism
30
Debris and open burning
18
Equipment and vehicle use
17
Smoking
17
Natural
10
Misuse of fire by a minor
8
Other causes
5
Power generation/transmission/distribution
4
Fireworks
3
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
51 workings within 5 miles of Sterling Mountain Fire Observation Tower and Observer's Cabin: 45 past producers, 4 prospects, 2 producers.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Titanium. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Greenwood Lake, the town this property stands in, in 13 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 9 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flood.
The reports record 7 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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