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Fire lookout · Washington County, Alabama

Jordan Lookout Tower

Aermotor MC-29 fire tower near Chatom, Washington County, Alabama; Alabama Forestry Commission; built 1935 by the CCC per NHLR description (Built field says 1938); NHLR-registered 2010.

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
Cab on a tower100 ft Aermotor MC-29 with 7 by 7 foot cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
265 ft (81 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
State land
Location
Washington County, Alabama
Coordinates
31.53105, −88.24756
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-jordan

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 3.0 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. 1935 BuiltBuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps per the NHLR description. The NHLR Built field gives 1938; the sources conflict (see resolved_conflicts).Sources: nhlr.org, jacksonsramblings.com
  2. 1938 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. No record between 1938 and 2010
  4. 2010 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 9, 2010 as US 863, AL 41; nominated by Thomas Kaufmann. Jackson's Ramblings gives AL 42.Sources: nhlr.org, jacksonsramblings.com
  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 Jordan Lookout Tower stands near Chatom in Washington County, Alabama, and the Alabama Forestry Commission administers it.1,2,3

The Register's description says the Civilian Conservation Corps built the tower in 1935. It is an Aermotor MC-29 design, 100 feet tall, with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,3 The Register's own build field gives 1938 instead, so the two dates disagree.1 A December 2025 column by Thomas Kaufmann notes that the Civilian Conservation Corps stopped building fire towers when the United States entered the Second World War, and that many earlier wooden towers were replaced with steel ones during the New Deal.4 That context fits a 1935 date, but no source confirms it. Kaufmann also nominated the tower to the Register.1

The Register listed the tower on January 9, 2010, as US 863, AL 41. Jackson's Ramblings gives the state number as AL 42.1,3

None of the sources read say who staffed the tower or which fires it watched, and no source describes its condition today. Kaufmann's column estimates that probably fewer than 75 historic towers still stand in Alabama. It says many are in poor shape and that climbing them is against the law, though the column does not single out Jordan.4 The Register page carries a drone video from Jackson's Ramblings.1

The sources do not say whether the public may visit or climb the tower. Treat it as off-limits to climbing unless the Alabama Forestry Commission says otherwise, and ask the agency before you visit.

  1. Jordan Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/jordan-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Jordan, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/jordan.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Jordan Fire Tower, Jackson's Ramblings, https://jacksonsramblings.com/jordan-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Thomas Kaufmann: Keeping Alabama's historic lookout towers, 1819 News, 12.28.25, https://1819news.com/news/item/thomas-kaufmann-keeping-alabamas-historic-lookout-towers (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Jordan Lookout 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, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) 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
  3. 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

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