On Saturday night September 5th, find a place with a view of your favorite fire tower on the horizon for the 7th annual Lighting of the Fire Towers Event!
Meant to showcase the history of the five Catskill fire towers, find an area in your neighborhood where you have a view of one of the fire towers, and watch as the cabs light up from 9:00pm to 9:30pm. This year, all five Catskills fire towers will be lit (Tremper, Hunter, Balsam Lake, Overlook, and Red Hill).
The men and women who were in those cabs protected the Catskills from forest fires by providing fire fighters with an early detection and reporting system that was amazingly accurate. For years, these towers watched faithfully like beacons over the Catskills. If you were lucky, your area may have been covered by more than one tower!
For additional information about possible viewing areas near you, check out our list below!
Viewing sites for Lighting of the Fire Towers
Balsam Lake Mountain
1) Scenic Overlook at the top of Palmer Hill along State Route 28 between Margaretville and Andes
2) At the top of Todd Mt Road (Ulster County Route 49A) near the intersection with Kelly Road
3) Dingle Hill Andes We drove along Ridge road , stopping frequently to see the light. So, if you are curious to "google map" the sites where we had a good look, it was 1212 Dingle Hill road, 629 Ridge Road and on “down” Ridge Road for a mile. (all are Andes addresses…off of Rt 30around the Pepacton Reservoir)
Hunter Mountain
Gordon Realty on Route 23A in Hunter has granted permission for viewers to use their parking lot for the "Lighting of the Towers" event Saturday, September 5th.
Gordon Realty, Inc.
6528 Route 23A
Hunter, NY 12442
518-589-9000
Copy http://www.gordonrealty.com/directions/ and paste in your browser's address bar for directions.
Overlook Mountain
1) Thorn Preserve off Zena Road
2) Zena Corn Field
3) Zena School
Red Hill
-The pull off on top of the Rondout Reservoir - Merriman dam on Rt. 55 about 7 or 8 miles west of Ellenville.
- The Claryville/Denning Rd. near the YMCA East Valley Farm.
- Red Hill Knolls Rd.
- Rudolph Rd.
- Blue Hill Rd. west of Claryville
- East side of Bridge over the Rondout Creek on Rt. 55A
- Balsam Lake Mt. Fire Tower
- Summits of the following high peaks; Peekamoose, Table, Lone, Friday, Cornell, Slide, Fir, Big Indian, Doubletop, and Graham Mts.
- Most of the Rt. 52 pulloffs east of Ellenville on the way to Pine Bush.
- Mohonk Mt. House and Skytop Tower
Mount Tremper
State Route 28 near the intersection of State Route 28A