Mt. Dunlop Blue Ridge Lookout Tower

In 1926, the state forest service started using the knob as a fire lookout. Observations were made from the tops of several birch trees growing at the summit, followed by a road oak after the deterioration of the birch trees.

In 1930, a boy scout troop built a log cabin for the state forest fire warden. Scoutmaster Robert Cline and John Pryor with 26 boys.

In 1936, CCC forest workers from E.C.W. Camp S-70, located at the Old Forge near Waynesboro, built a 80-foot steel structure. Jesse Thompson, state forest fire warden at Blue Ridge Summit, had been serving as forest fire observer at Mount Dunlop continued to be in charge, now with a new tower. The tower was purchased by the Forest Service from emergency conservation work funds. It was completed by November and provides the lookout with some 100,000 acres of forest land to look over.

In 1937, access roads and a stone cabin for the observer was built by the CCC. The three-room cabin had large open hearth fireplaces on the first floor and a sleeping balcony on the second. It was built about 100 feet from the tower. Jesse Thompson was the lookout for many of these years, so the cabin was his new home. People sometimes called it Jesse’s Tower he remained the lookout so long. Constructed by the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters of native stone from Green Ridge. It was said that hundreds of people visited the site each month. There were 167 visitors just on one Sunday.

In 1939, the state purchased the land the tower stood on from George W. and Charity K. Donnelly. They also had to purchase a 30-foot wide right of way for the road from several other private landowners. During this year, the Waynesboro Record Herald newspaper wrote many updates about the tower, including 25 visitors on a March Sunday in zero-degree temperatures, 79 the following Sunday, road repairs by the CCC, 27 visitors on a Sunday in October to see the leaves changing, and finally a story about a caged rattlesnake which had been an attraction throughout the summer. Apparently, the fire warden Jesse Thompson had a cocker spaniel and was quite worried about the snake. But then someone stole the cage and snake. The tower was manned into mid-december during some high winds making fire hazard, after a week off due to damp weather. Also this year the Coast and Geodetic survey team placed the survey benchmarks on the summit. They mentioned the steel tower and thought the height to be 110 feet.

In 1944, the lookout was Harlan Benchoff.

In 1945, a towerman discovered a forest fire which destroyed about 75 acres of timberland in the Mt. Alto State Forest along Leaf Road near Deep Hollow. High school students of Quincy, Pennsylvania helped battle the blaze. A few days before, another fire burned over a small section caused by a hunter smoking out a squirrel.

In 1951, four Pen Mar youths were put in the Franklin County jail pending investigation of a series of thefts including entering the living quarters of the Mt. Dunlop tower.

In 1963 the lookout person was Harold Naugle.

In 1966, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Dept of Forests and Waters put an add in the newspaper for sale at the highest bidder the state owned two story stone cabin living quarters located at the tower site. They requested the building be demolished and completely removed from the site prior to July 1, 1966, and that the building site must be left broom clean.

In 1973, a 19-year old from Waynesboro named William Ellsworth Piper fell from the tower and died. The tower this year was a high priority since vandals had toppled the Snowy Mountain Lookout to the north putting that viewpoint out of commission for the season. By the fall season, Snowy Mountain was back up and because the visible coverage provided by Snowy, fire officials did not staff the Mt. Dunlap tower.

In 1993, the tower served as a communications tower for Washington Township.

In 2004, Washington Township purchased the fire tower and the acre of land surrounding it from Antrim Faith Baptist Church, which uses the tower for its radio antenna. The township had been leasing space on the tower for its communication antennas and other radio gear. The church was moving its antenna and offered the property to the township.

The tower is currently used for communications equipment and is closed off by a fence.

Named for Worthington Dunlop who purchased 32 acres on the mountain in 1856. The AT passes a bit below the summit but a hiking side trail will get you there. Given the close proximity of Waynesboro, there is a lot of history in the newspaper archives. Below is some of what can be found.

Coming from the south on the AT, as the trail gets close to its highest point on Mt. Dunlap, look for an old road (now a trail) cutting off to the right. Follow this trail to the Tower Road, then just walk up the road to the summit.