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 Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in P ...

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...

. Located at an elevation of , the station includes a , steel-frame lookout tower erected in 1922 and an observer's cabin built about 1934. The tower is a prefabricated structure built by the

Aermotor Corporation The Aermotor Windmill Company, or Aermotor Company, is an American manufacturer of wind-powered water pumps. The widespread use of their distinctive wind pumps on ranches throughout the arid plains and deserts of the United States has made their d ...

and provided a front line of defense in preserving the

Ramapo Mountains The Ramapo Mountains are a forested chain of the Appalachian Mountains in northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York, in the United States. They range in height from in New Jersey, and in New York. Several parks and forest preserves en ...

from the hazards of forest fires. The observer's cabin is of light frame construction, sheathed with

board and batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

siding stained brown. ''See also:'' In 1968 an access road was constructed to facilitate repairs, with both the tower and cabin being upgraded that same year. The station became a volunteer-run reserve lookout in 1989 when New York State ended its fire observation program. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Towers completed in 1922 Houses completed in 1934 Buildings and structures in Orange County, New York Fire lookout towers on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Palisades Interstate Park system Ramapos National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, New York 1922 establishments in New York (state)