Fire lookout · Lawrence County, Alabama
Bridge Creek Lookout Tower
1949 Aermotor MC-39 steel fire tower in Lawrence County, Alabama, erected and administered by the Alabama Forestry Commission; NHLR-registered 2009. No staffing or current access found.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel towerThe design: Aermotor MC-39
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1949
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- 840 ft (256 m)
- Agency
- Alabama Forestry Commission
- Land
- State land
- Location
- Lawrence County, Alabama
- Coordinates
- 34.61128, −87.26768
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-al-bridge-creek
View from the cab
What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.
Downloads about 3.4 MB of terrain data the first time.
Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.
History
Then and now
- 1949 BuiltRegister build year; erected by the Alabama Forestry CommissionSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1949 and 2009
- 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 7, 2009 as US 847, AL 25; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: nhlr.org
- 2021 EventRegister photo credit dated November 27, 2021 (courtesy of Jason Johns); suggests standing thenSource: nhlr.org
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
Old maps of this spot
USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Bridge Creek Lookout Tower stands in Lawrence County, Alabama, and the Alabama Forestry Commission administers it.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower that the commission erected in 1949.1 The Register also calls it the only steel fire tower in Lawrence.1
The Register puts the site at 840 feet (256 m) and records the tower's registration on December 7, 2009. Thomas Kaufmann nominated it.1
The MC-39 was the steel model most often used in Alabama, according to Kaufmann's December 2025 column.3 The tower's design is therefore typical for the state, even though its own history is thinly documented.
I could not find who staffed the tower, what fires it watched, or whether it has been changed since it went up. The Register includes a photo credited to Jason Johns and dated November 27, 2021, which suggests the tower was still standing then.1
Current access is unknown. Kaufmann's column also says many Alabama towers are very unsafe and off limits to climbers, so check with the Alabama Forestry Commission before going to the site.3
- Bridge Creek Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/bridge-creek-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Bridge Creek, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bridge-creek.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Thomas Kaufmann, "Keeping Alabama's historic lookout towers," 1819 News, https://1819news.com/news/item/thomas-kaufmann-keeping-alabamas-historic-lookout-towers (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: ownership, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story
More about this lookout elsewhere
- NHLR register entry US 847 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Thomas Kaufmann: Keeping Alabama's historic lookout towers (1819 News) (opens another site)
- Bridge Creek (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.