{"nrhp_refnum":"01001030","name":"Red Hill Fire Observation Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Red Hill","address_restricted":false,"city":"Denning","county":"Ulster County","state":"NY","lat":41.92365923600005,"lon":-74.51735832299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-09-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Entertainment/Recreation","Conservation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A fire observation station at the 2,990-foot summit of Red Hill in the Sundown Wild Forest, Denning, Ulster County, New York. It has a 60-foot steel lookout tower erected in 1920 and an observer's cabin built in 1931.","why_significant":"The station is significant under criteria A and C for its association with the New York State Forest Preserve. It is a representative example of an early twentieth-century fire observation station. Its 1931 observer's cabin is one of the oldest surviving observer's cabins of the Conservation Commission's standard type.","narrative":"Red Hill Fire Observation Station sits on the 2,990-foot summit of Red Hill in the Catskill Forest Preserve, in the town of Denning. It consists of a 60-foot steel lookout tower prefabricated by the Aermotor Corporation and erected in 1920, plus a small frame observer's cabin from 1931. The site was chosen in 1919 to cover an area on the south slope of the Catskills that existing stations did not reach. The cabin, clad in reddish-brown waney-edge siding on a rubble foundation, is one of three of its standard type built that year and remains among the oldest of its kind. Observers served here from 1919 until the station closed in 1989, making it the last Catskill fire tower to shut down. Public access ended in the early 1980s when the jeep trail across private land was posted. Restoration work began after a new foot trail was cut in 1997.","period_of_significance":"1920-1950","architect_builder":"Aermotor Corporation (tower manufacturer)","architectural_style":"NO STYLE/Utilitarian (fire tower); Rustic (cabin)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as not in use. The tower is intact and undergoing repair, with stair treads, some steel members and window glazing replaced in kind. The cabin is intact but unused, with its roof temporarily tarped awaiting repair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.159408-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01001030.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001030/bc7baf20e5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001030/bc7baf20e5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daniel Case","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Hill_Fire_Tower,_Denning,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daniel Case</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Hill_Fire_Tower,_Denning,_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315284","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hill_Fire_Observation_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7304273"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/ulster-county/red-hill-fire-observation-station-01001030/"}