I first visited the Beacon Monument atop Mount Beacon in 2007, soon after I moved to the city. A lifetime resident showed me the way.
The second time was last week, 17 years later. In my defense, I’ve been busy.
In the meantime, I talked about the monument a lot. Often someone will point to its stubby black outline and ask, “What is that? Why haven’t I seen it when I’m on the mountain?” And then I tell them what I’ll tell you now.
The Beacon Monument, built by the Daughters of the American Revolution, will celebrate its 125th year in 2025. It was dedicated on July 4, 1900. It was built to commemorate the northernmost spot in a chain of 23 signal fires that stretched down to New Jersey during the Revolutionary War; there were also signal fires at Storm King, Bear Mountain and the site that is now Boscobel.
The signal fire atop Mount Beacon — North Mountain in those days — was important to the war effort because it guided Gen. George Washington, who was camped in Newburgh. “He would have been watching to know if the British had come back,” says Denise Doring VanBuren, the former national DAR president who is now president of the Beacon Historical Society.
After the monument was built, it quickly became a tourist attraction, especially for visitors to a nearby casino on the mountain. VanBuren says the monument was more visible because farmers had cut down nearby trees. It also had a massive flagpole until 1934, when it attracted a lightning bolt that destroyed half the monument. It was rebuilt without the flagpole.
The monument has been attacked by graffiti vandals, souvenir hunters who chipped pieces away and hunters who used it for target practice. While it may be hard to believe that anyone would hike up the mountain to shoot at an obelisk (Loyalists?), a sign at the nearby Beacon reservoir recently had to be replaced because it had so many bullet holes.
On July 4, 2000, the DAR hosted a daylong celebration at the summit. More than 600 people visited. “Most told me some variation of ‘I’ve lived here all my life but I’ve never been up here to see the monument,’ ” VanBuren said.
The location of the monument is hardly a secret, but it’s not easy to reach. The trail leading to it is unblazed, unmarked and unofficial. You could walk by the trailhead a hundred times without noticing it. Evan Thompson, the park manager for Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve, says the state might put up a sign. Those who love the monument are cautious about promoting it, given the abuse the city’s most visible landmark has suffered.
Thank you, Brian, for writing this article. I always like to read about what is here in the Hudson Valley that has been forgotten.