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Fire lookout · Perry County, Alabama

Perry Lakes Birding Tower

Birding tower in Perry Lakes Park, AL: a 100-ft Aermotor MC-39 fire tower moved and rebuilt by Rural Studio students in 2005; open to visitors in daylight.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Park open at no charge during daylight hours; gate is unlocked

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
From the park entrance off AL-175, follow the dirt road through the gate; an open-air stairway climbs to the top
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Type unknown100' Aermotor MC-39 steel tower, rebuilt without its 7'x7' cab as an open birding towerThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
148 ft (45 m)
Agency
Perry County Commission administers the park (per NHLR); tower donated by the Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Perry County, Alabama
Coordinates
32.69695, −87.24218
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-perry-lakes-birding

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. 1936 BuiltRegister 'Built' field gives 1936; the register description says the CCC erected it in the late 1930s as the Rumley Lookout in Sumter County (not confirmed elsewhere)Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1936 and 2005
  3. 2005 AlteredRebuilt without the 7x7 cab as an open birding towerSource: nhlr.org
  4. 2005 MovedMoved to Perry Lakes Park and restored by students (register); Metropolis says the park was ready for a student team in 2004Sources: nhlr.org, metropolismag.com
  5. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 16, 2009 as US 852, AL 30Source: nhlr.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 birding tower at Perry Lakes Park, in Perry County, Alabama, is a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower that stood somewhere else before it came to the park.1,2

The register gives 1936 as the build year, but its description says the Civilian Conservation Corps erected the tower in the late 1930s, under the name Rumley Lookout in Sumter County.1 We could not confirm the Rumley name or the original site from any other source. The magazine and park pages do not say where the tower first stood.3,2

The Alabama Forestry Commission donated the tower, which had been an abandoned fire tower beside a road.3,2 Students from the Rural Studio at Auburn University took it apart and rebuilt it in the park.3,4 The register credits students from Judson College as well, and dates the move and restoration to 2005.1 Metropolis says the park was ready for a student team to take on the project in 2004.3

The sources disagree on the price. Metropolis quotes a student saying the Forestry Commission would give them the tower for a dollar, while Ruth Arts says a team of four students bought it for $10.3,4 Ruth Arts also says the team spent 15 days taking the tower down piece by piece, then 45 days rebuilding it with new railings and observation platforms.4

The register says the tower was rebuilt without its 7-by-7-foot cab, which gives birders an open view of the canopy, and bills it as the tallest tower in the country for watching birds.1

Perry Lakes Park has no admission charge during daylight hours, and its gate is unlocked.2 To drive in, turn in at the park entrance on AL-175 and take the dirt road through the gate.2 Ruth Arts likens the open-air stairway up the tower to a 10-story building, and the author describes climbing it on a winter morning.4 The register says the Perry County Commission administers the tower, and that it was listed on December 16, 2009.1

  1. Perry Lakes Birding Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/perry-lakes-birding-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Perry Lakes Park, Alabama Birding Trail, https://alabamabirdingtrails.com/venue/perry-lakes-park/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bird's-eye View, Metropolis, https://metropolismag.com/programs/birds-eye-view/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Reflecting Back and Looking Ahead, Ruth Arts, https://rutharts.org/reflecting-back-and-looking-ahead/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Perry Lakes Birding 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, access, visiting details, 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.