Berlin Mountain
History
Around 1915, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts built a 50-foot-tall (15 m) steel fire lookout tower on the mountain. The tower was one of two that were built to replace the tower on Mount Greylock, which had poor visibility. In 1921, New York State expanded its forest fire detection and control responsibilities to the area east of the Hudson River, due to advice from the United States Forest Service. The area included parts of Washington County and all of Rensselaer, Columbia and Dutchess counties, under District Forest Ranger Henry A. Teal. The states of Vermont, New York and Massachusetts shared in the funding of the operation of the tower for about three years. Along this boundary, Massachusetts authorities would use the observation towers on Berlin Mountain, Osceola Mountain and Mount Everett to report fires to the nearest fire warden in New York. Similar agreements were made with the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with regard to different new districts that were established by New York. In 1922, the state of New York added forest fire observation stations at Number Seven Hill and Dickinson Hill, which are also both in Rensselaer County. Due to these additions, in late 1923, Massachusetts moved the tower to Brodie Mountain. The towers footings are all that remains from the tower on Berlin Mountain.
References
- ^ "Berlin Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ Origins of Williammstown by Arthur L. Perry, Charles Scribner's Sons 1894
- ^ "Searchable list of NY Fire Towers". nysffla.org. The New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association. Retrieved December 17, 2021.