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Meeting
Notice!
Our Next Meeting is in the classroom on the ground floor of
Beacon Town Hall on Wednesday March 7, 2007 at 7PM Sharp
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| Read
the March 7, 2006 Poughkeepsie Journal Editorial on restoring
the tower |
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the February 17, 2006 Poughkeepsie Journal Article |
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Help us raise restoration funds by
purchasing a T shirt designed by local artist Rafael Figueroa
Shirts are 100% heavyweight cotton and
cost $15 ($18 for XXL) Write
to us for more information, look for our Shirts in local
stores and shops, or purchase
them online.
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NY/NJ
Trail Conference:
New Map Set for East of Hudson Trails (press
release)
Purchase the Maps Here
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The Mount Beacon Incline Railway Society has
set up an account to accept donations.
P.O. Box 1248
Beacon, NY 12508
Attention:
Fire Tower Restoration Fund.
Checks should be made payable to MBIRRS c/o
Fire tower.
Fundraising contacts:
Leonard
Behney
Katy
Bell
For answers about the project, please write
to Andy at Andy@beaconfiretower.org.
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The fire tower stands guard over this site, and
deserves to be preserved. A grassroots group of volunteers understands
this, and the rest of the community should help it in this worthwhile
effort. - Poughkeepsie
Journal
was built in 1931 on the site of an earlier,
possibly wooden, structure and was used by the State of New York to spot
fires for five decades.
Fire towers once served an
important role in protecting our forests and natural heritage. Numbers of
them dot ridges throughout the Hudson Valley and other parts of New York
State. Our fire tower stands on South Beacon Mountain at 1650' and has
been a treasured hiking destination for years.
The
tower was "surplused" by the NYS Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) in 1987 and rapidly began to deteriorate.
Many towers in our region have been successfully
restored. (Mount
Nimham Project) This has been accomplished through the efforts
of dedicated local citizen groups. A working group composed of area
residents and representatives of the City of Beacon, the Mount Beacon
Incline Railway Society, Scenic Hudson, the NYS Parks Department and DEC
has been meeting since February to plan the tower's rehabilitation.
The
cost, including the tower footing emergency stabilization and with labor
provided mostly by volunteers, is estimated between $15,000 and $20,000.
Additional donations will be needed for future upkeep of the tower and for
signs and interpretive exhibits.
A working group is soliciting old photographs of, or
from, the tower as well as other rememberances. These may be included in
future interpretive signs.
If destroyed, we would lose a wonderful destination
with unsurpassed views of the Hudson River Valley, the Taconic and on a
clear day, the skyscrapers of New York.
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A
Message from Mayor Clara-Lou Gould
On top of Mount Beacon stands an
historic fire tower in need of major repair. Fire towers
once served an important role in protecting our forests.
They were built on hilltops, so they also provided beautiful
views. The Mount Beacon tower is really special in that
regard. From the combination mountain and tower height of
1,650 feet the view is spectacular. On a clear day you can
see--well perhaps not forever, and perhaps not the west
coast of Ireland--it's too far south for that--but
definitely the skyline of Manhattan, and the distant hills
of Pennsylvania. And in the forefront a magnificent view of
our Hudson River, with our communities displayed in their
perspective to the Valley.
If the tower is not restored this piece
of local history will be destroyed, and our area will lose
an attraction visitors have enjoyed for almost 70 years.
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What is the Restoration
Project About?
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