FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Baldwin County, Alabama

Carpenter Lookout Tower

120-foot Alabama Forestry Commission tower in Baldwin County, built 1942 and removed by early 2018; a 2013 sale to New York is also reported.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. No standing tower is recorded at the site

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower120-foot tower; NHLR says International Derrick with 7-by-7-foot cab, Forest Lookouts says Aermotor MC-39The designs: Aermotor MC-39, IDECO
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1942
Height
120 ft (36.6 m)
Elevation
214 ft (65 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
State land
Location
Baldwin County, Alabama
Coordinates
30.82628, −87.86204
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-carpenter

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. 1942 BuiltStarted by the CCC and completed by the Alabama Forestry CommissionSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1942 and 2009
  3. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 23, 2009Source: nhlr.org
  4. 2013 RemovedForest Lookouts: sold, dismantled and shipped to New York for restoration and resaleSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 2018 RemovedNHLR: removed by early 2018; former-site photo shows footings from April 2018Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFormer-site listing registered March 25, 2020Source: firetower.org
  7. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Carpenter Lookout was a fire tower in Baldwin County, Alabama, and the Alabama Forestry Commission managed it.1,2 The Civilian Conservation Corps began the work, and the commission finished it in 1942.1

The sources disagree on the tower's make. The Register describes a 120-foot International Derrick tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1 The Forest Lookouts page calls the 120-foot tower an Aermotor MC-39.2

The Forest Lookouts page says the tower was sold in 2013, dismantled, and shipped to New York, where it is being restored for a later resale.2 The Register says it had been removed by early 2018, and a photo on the former-site listing shows the tower's footings in April 2018.1,3 The two accounts give different removal dates. The Forest Lookouts account suggests the tower itself may still exist in New York, but the sources do not say whether anything is left at the site today.1,2

The Register registered the tower on June 23, 2009, and the former-site listing followed on March 25, 2020.1,3 Since the Register says the tower is gone, there is no standing tower to climb.1 The sources say nothing about who staffed the lookout, what fires it watched, or whether the public may visit the site, so check with the Alabama Forestry Commission before going.

  1. Carpenter Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/carpenter-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Carpenter, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/carpenter.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Carpenter Lookout Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/al/carpenter-lookout-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Carpenter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower footers in April 2018
Tower footers in April 2018 (2018)Photo: Andrew Zerbe, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Carpenter Lookout Tower
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower footers in April 2018
Tower footers in April 2018 (2018)Photo: Andrew Zerbe, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com): Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, 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.