FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Conecuh County, Alabama

Brooks Tower

Conecuh County, Alabama, tower: a 1962 Aermotor MC-39 replacement for an original wooden tower, run by the Alabama Forestry Commission; NHLR-registered 2011.

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
Standing
Type
Type unknownAermotor MC-39 tower with 7x7-foot cab, replacing an original 100-foot wooden towerThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1962
Height
Unknown
Elevation
375 ft (114 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Conecuh County, Alabama
Coordinates
31.44232, −86.71502
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-brooks

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1962 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. 1962 Replaced by a new structureThe Alabama Forestry Commission replaced the original 100-foot wooden tower with an Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7x7-foot cabSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1962 and 2011
  4. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 3, 2011; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: nhlr.org
  5. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The National Historic Lookout Register lists the Brooks Tower in Conecuh County, Alabama, and says the Alabama Forestry Commission administers it.1 The Register says the commission replaced an original 100-foot wooden tower in 1962 with an Aermotor MC-39 tower that has a 7-by-7-foot cab.1 The height of the new tower is garbled in that same sentence, so this story does not take a height from it.1

TopoQuest, a map and place-name site, also lists a Brooks Lookout Tower in Conecuh County.2 It gives the elevation as 380 feet above sea level, while the Register gives 375 feet (114 metres).1,2 I could not tell which figure is right, so both are shown.

The Register names Thomas Kaufmann as the nominator and records the registration on January 3, 2011.1 Neither source says who staffed the tower, which fires it watched, or whether it was closed, moved or rebuilt after 1962.1,2

The Register page includes a drone video from another site, but neither source says what condition the tower is in today, or whether the public may visit or climb it.1,2 Anyone planning a visit should check with the Alabama Forestry Commission first, and should not climb the tower without its permission.

  1. Brooks Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/brooks-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Brooks Lookout Tower, AL, TopoQuest, https://www.topoquest.com/place-detail.php?id=133098 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Brooks Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Brooks Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.