FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Colbert County, Alabama

Crooked Oak Lookout Tower

Colbert County, AL tower built 1971 by the Alabama Forestry Commission; both registers now say it is no longer standing (update dated 11-27-21).

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. No longer standing, so there is no lookout to visit or rent; no public access described

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 tower100' Aermotor MC-39The design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1971
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
965 ft (294 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Colbert County, Alabama
Coordinates
34.58930, −87.79796
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-crooked-oak

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 3.2 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

  1. 1971 BuiltBuilt in 1971 (NHLR 'Built' field and description)Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1971 and 2009
  3. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 10, 2009 as US 849, AL 27; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: nhlr.org
  4. 2021 EventNHLR update dated 11-27-21 says the tower is no longer standing; the removal date and manner are not givenSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  5. 2026 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 6, 2026 as US 2128, AL 34; nominated by Ron StaffordSource: firetower.org
  6. 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 Crooked Oak Lookout Tower was in Colbert County, Alabama.1 The Alabama Forestry Commission ran it.1 The register places it among the final towers built to close out the state's fire detection network. It was built in 1971 as a 100-foot Aermotor model MC-39.1 The register says it stayed in service into the early 1980s.1

We found no source naming anyone who staffed the tower or any fire it watched.

The National Historic Lookout Register accepted the tower on December 10, 2009, on the nomination of Thomas Kaufmann. It is listed as US 849, AL 27.1 The register also carries a note, dated 11-27-21, saying the tower “is no longer standing.”1

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register added the site on July 6, 2026, on the nomination of Ron Stafford, as US 2128, AL 34.2 It repeats the note that the tower is no longer standing.2 Neither source says when the tower came down or why.

Because the tower is no longer standing, there is no lookout left to climb or rent at the site. We found no information about public access.1,2

  1. Crooked Oak Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/crooked-oak-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Crooked Oak Lookout Tower, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/al/crooked-oak-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Crooked Oak Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  2. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, dates, 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. 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.