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Fire lookout · Pickens County, Alabama

Pioneer Tower

Also known as Pleasant Grove

Pickens County lookout run by the Alabama Forestry Commission; the Register says a tornado destroyed its first tower in 1947 and a 100-foot MC-39 replaced it in 1966.

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 Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7-by-7-foot cabThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1947
Height
Unknown
Elevation
134 ft (41 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Pickens County, Alabama
Coordinates
33.15581, −87.93754
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-pioneer

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 3.3 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. 1947 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. 1947 DestroyedThe Register says a tornado destroyed the first Pioneer-Grove tower; its Built field also reads 1947 and the tornado is not confirmed elsewhereSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1947 and 1966
  4. 1966 Replaced by a new structureThe 100-foot MC-39 with a 7-by-7-foot cab replaced the first towerSource: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1966 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 3, 2011 as US 899, AL 57Source: nhlr.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.

The Pioneer Tower stands in Pickens County, Alabama, and the Alabama Forestry Commission administers it.1 The National Historic Lookout Register lists it as US 899, AL 57 and gives its elevation as 134 feet (41 meters).1 A Forest Lookouts listing files it under the name Pleasant Grove.2

The Register tells a more tangled story about dates. It says the first Pioneer-Grove fire tower was destroyed by a tornado in 1947, and that a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39 with a 7-by-7-foot cab replaced it in 1966.1 Its own Built field, however, reads 1947.1 The description suggests the 1947 date belongs to the tower that was lost, but we found no second source to confirm the tornado or either date.

A 1819 News column by Thomas Kaufmann names the Aermotor MC-39 as the steel lookout design most often found in Alabama's forests.3 Kaufmann also nominated this tower to the Register, which accepted it on January 3, 2011.1

The sources we read say nothing about who staffed the Pioneer Tower, which fires it watched, or whether the public can visit or climb it today. Anyone planning a trip should check with the Alabama Forestry Commission first.

  1. Pioneer Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/pioneer-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Pleasant Grove, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/pleasant-grove.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Thomas Kaufmann, "Keeping Alabama's historic lookout towers," 1819 News, https://1819news.com/news/item/thomas-kaufmann-keeping-alabamas-historic-lookout-towers (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pioneer Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Pioneer 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.