FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Monroe County, Alabama

Lookout Hill Fire Tower

CCC-era 100-ft MC-39 fire tower in Monroe County, Alabama, administered by the AFC; last staffed until 1982, found locked in 1983; current condition unknown.

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-foot MC-39 tower with 7 by 7 foot cabThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1939
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
389 ft (119 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Monroe County, Alabama
Coordinates
31.78610, −87.33584
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-lookout-hill

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. 1939 BuiltRegister description and blog give 1939 at CCC camp P-76; the register's Built field reads 1941Sources: nhlr.org, jacksonsramblings.com
  2. 1941 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. No record between 1941 and 1976
  4. 1976 StaffedGary Cole, a forest ranger assigned to north Monroe County, began in June 1976Source: jacksonsramblings.com
  5. 1982 Last staffedCole manned the tower until 1982, when he became county forestry supervisorSource: jacksonsramblings.com
  6. 1983 EventBlog author last got to climb the tower; it was locked that day and the author did not enter the cabSource: jacksonsramblings.com
  7. No record between 1983 and 2009
  8. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered December 11, 2009Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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 Lookout Hill Fire Tower is in Monroe County, Alabama, and the Alabama Forestry Commission administers it.1 The register numbers it US 850, AL 28, while a blog post gives AL 29.1,2 The blog also places the site in a land-management area tied to the Red Hills salamander.2

The sources disagree on when it was built. The register's description credits a junior African-American company, number 4435, with building the tower at Civilian Conservation Corps camp P-76 in 1939.1 The same description gives a 100-foot MC-39 design with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1 The register's separate Built field, however, reads 1941.1 The blog repeats the 1939 date.2

Staffing records are thin, but the blog gives some detail. It says a family named Findley lived at the tower and manned it in the 1950s and early 1960s.2 The blog quotes Gary Cole saying that Jane Ellen Briggs was the tower person before he started.2 Cole was a forest ranger assigned to north Monroe County from June 1976.2 He says he manned the tower until 1982, when he became county forestry supervisor, and calls himself the last tower man there.2 A house at the tower's base had been torn down by 1976.2 I found no record of particular fires the tower watched.

The blog author last got to climb the tower in 1983. It was locked that day, and the author did not get into the cab.2 A 1819 News column by Thomas Kaufmann gives the most common explanation for why the lookouts became neglected: aircraft could spot fires across a much larger area than a 100-foot tower.3 The same column says there are probably fewer than 75 historic lookouts still standing in Alabama, and that many are in poor repair, unsafe and illegal to climb.3

The register lists a registration date of December 11, 2009, and gives no current condition.1 The blog author filmed a video of the tower in February 2016.2 I found no later report of restoration or public access. Neither the register nor the blog says whether the public may enter the tower, so check with the Alabama Forestry Commission before visiting, and do not climb a locked or unsafe tower.

  1. Lookout Hill Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/lookout-hill-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lookout Hill Tower, Jackson's Ramblings (jacksonsramblings.com), https://jacksonsramblings.com/lookout-hill-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. 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

Photo of Lookout Hill Fire 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.