Quirauk Mountain Lookout

In 1883 the Western Maryland RR added to the features of its resort a 60-foot-tall wooden observatory on the summit.

In 1885, a severe windstorm demolished the wooden tower.

In 1886, the RR (Pen-Mar Resort) began construction of a new 70-foot-tall steel tower that opened to the public on June 28, 1886. It had the name of Tip-Top Tower.

In 1921 the resort permitted the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania to convert Tip-Top Tower to a fire tower. In addition to the two states co-operation, the Western Maryland Railway (tower owner) and the Bell Telephone Company were needed for proper operation of the tower. A telephone line from Pen-Mar to Mt. Quirauk was built and another line to a station in Maryland. The action of the Maryland and Pennsylvania forestry departments in joining to work toward the same end marked the first act of this kind in the history of the country. The expenses as well as other costs of maintenance was borne equally by the two states.

In 1922, news reports all said the tower was 80 to 85 feet tall, glass enclosed lookout 10 feet square at the top. There was also a watchman cabin at the base of the tower.

In 1923, the forest guard was L.S. Brown from Waynesboro. During the season, he discovered 13 fires. The largest in Maryland burned over 700 acres while the largest in Pennsylvania burned just under 100 acres.

In 1927, Clay Willard a Pennsylvania State Forester was shot with his own gun at the fire lookout by an assailant when Clay was repairing a tire. The shooter got away so the tower owners, the Western Maryland Railroad, assigned Detective Lieut. E. G. Chapman to the case. Willard was in a critical condition at the Waynesboro Hospital from bullet wounds in the stomach.

In 1948, WJEJ Hagerstown replaced the flagstaff atop the tower with the regions first FM radio tower and commenced broadcasts from its studio at the base of the tower.

In 1963, a fire burned near the summit within 100 feet of the communications towers.

In 1964, a federal communications tower standing more than 200 feet tall was built next to Tip-Top Tower. The tower served the Underground Pentagon at Raven Rock.

Quirauk Mountain is the most prominent peak in Maryland and highest point on South Mountain. Permission must be given to hike up to the summit. Contact Candi Smith at (717) 878-2771. Mount Quirauk is the highest peak of the Blue Ridge range north of North Carolina. It commands a sweep of the mountains from the Susquehanna to the Potomac and east as far as Baltimore. On a clear day smoke from the ships on the Chesapeake could be seen. The view was claimed to be the most extraordinary scenic effect east of the Mississippi. The original name was Mount Misery but Gen. J.M. Hood, president of the Western Maryland Railway thought it was a miserable name so they changed it to Quirauk, thought to mean Blue Mountain. The Indian name is pronounced (key rock). General Hood discovered the name in a passage from an old history of Pennsylvania by Serman Day. It read, we followed the Indians so far as ye Quirauk (blue mountain) where the water falls down twelve faddoms.

Also on the mountain was this popular destination until it was dismantled in 1938. Built upon a rock outcropping on the western slope of Mount Quirauk, it commanded a spectacular view of the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. This point was so popular in the 1870s and 1880s that the Western Maryland RR resort on South Mountain was originally named Pen-Mar and High Rock instead of Pen-Mar Park as it later came to be known.

This was built in 1883 and later enlarged. It stood above the main line of the Western Maryland RR on the western slope of Mount Quirauk between Pen-Mar and High Rock.
It was the largest of many hotels on South Mountain and was frequented by US Presidents and their families, State governors, and various other notables who could afford its amenities. At an elevation of about 1400 feet above sea level, it commanded a spectacular view of the Cumberland Valley and surrounding mountains. At its largest it could accommodate about 500 guests. It was destroyed by fire on August 5, 1913, and never rebuilt.