The years-long effort to bring a historic fire tower back to Delhi has succeeded.
The Bramley Mountain Fire Tower has been rebuilt on the summit of the mountain that gave it its name, though a certificate of occupancy permit needs to be obtained before it can be opened to the public.
“We are so thrilled that the construction is complete — and are anxiously anticipating the Certificate of Occupancy so that we can open the tower to the public,” Friends of the Bramley Mountain Fire Tower President Ann Roberti said in an email Wednesday, Nov. 27. “We are so appreciative of the partners we’ve had in this effort — particularly Delaware County Supervisors and Delaware County Economic Development, and the (New York City Department of Environmental Protection). The work done for this project by the DEP’s Downsville Operations folks was outstanding and contributed greatly to our success in making this happen. And we are so appreciative of all the community support to raise the money needed to make this happen and for the volunteers that will staff the tower once it is open.”
Hikers can catch a glimpse of the tower from the trail below the summit, and its silhouette can be seen from various points across the Delaware River valley. Drivers can also see it along state Route 10 between Bloomville and Hoag’s Crossing.
The construction of the tower was split into two phases — pouring the concrete footers and constructing the tower, Roberti said. “The assembly itself started on Oct. 5th and finished on Nov. 19th,” she said. “There were a few unexpected delays that caused it to take longer than expected. The site itself was challenging. The route up to the summit is very steep in spots, making it tricky to move machinery and materials, and the summit can be exceptionally windy. But we were extremely lucky with the weather – the warm weather and drought were actually good for this project, allowing us to complete it much later in the season than we expected.”
The Friends of the Bramley Mountain Fire Tower Committee spent years trying to get the fire tower rebuilt on its original site.
“During the construction process we learned something truly unique about our tower,” Roberti continued. “While other fire towers have been removed and then restored, most of them were either taken down, repaired and put right back up, or were restored to be re-erected in new locations. The Bramley Mountain Fire Tower is the only existing fire tower in the United States which was disassembled, stored for years, and then reassembled in the exact same spot, saving a piece of local history.”
According to Daily Star archive articles, the organization thought it was going to get the permission it needed to rebuild the fire tower in August 2022.
The fire tower was in service for 25 years before it was decommissioned in 1970, Roberti said in the 2022 article. Pete Clark, of the Clark family farm on Elk Creek Road in Delhi, bought the tower five years later and had planned to put it up on his property, but his homeowners insurance wouldn’t cover it, Roberti said. The tower’s parts and pieces had sat inside a barn on the property ever since.
A group in the 1990s wanted to buy the property and rebuild the tower, but the owner of the property wouldn’t sell it to the group, she said. The property is now owned by New York City and administered by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The Catskill Mountain Club designed and built the Bramley Mountain Trail, which leads to the summit where the fire tower once stood. The trailhead is on Glen Burnie Road in Delhi.
In February 2023, the organization had a setback when the town of Delhi voted against an agreement between the town, organization, the Clark family and the DEP. In July 2023, the Delaware County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to represent local interests instead of the town of Delhi. The resolution encompassed agreements between the county and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which owns the land where the fire tower is to be rebuilt; Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower, which would rebuild the tower and man it with volunteers; and the Clark family, which owned the dismantled tower.
The county Economic Development agency oversaw the project for the county. During an April 2024 Economic Development Committee meeting, Director Glenn Nealis said the county had secured a land access permit from the DEP and an agreement with the town of Delhi. It was still seeking a building permit from the town so the fire tower could be built in the spring.
At a June meeting, Nealis said the county had to receive several state variances before the tower could be built. He said the town of Delhi code enforcement officer denied the building permit for the tower because the code office needed a current stamped engineer plan, more information on how the stairs would be secured into the foundation and the need for variances approved by the state Department of State Board of Review. The county needed variances for emergency access, to not provide a restroom and because the fire tower and the hike to it are not accessible to people with mobility issues.
The DEP worked with the group and built a parking lot on its property for hikers to use.
“We are hopeful it will be open by the end of the year,” Roberti said. “The tower and cab will only be open when a steward is present — on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day to Indigenous People’s Day, and on an ad hoc basis in between. We’ll try to post on social media when those ad hoc openings will happen.”