FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Monroe County, Alabama

Wildfork Lookout Tower

Monroe County, AL 120-foot International Derrick tower started by the CCC and finished by the Alabama Forestry Commission in 1941; last manned until 1981; NHLR US 854.

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. No public access information found. The blog says the tower was closed after 1981 but does not say whether that means closed to the public

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1981)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower120-foot International Derrick tower with sun visors on the cabThe design: IDECO
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1941
Height
120 ft (36.6 m)
Elevation
397 ft (121 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Monroe County, Alabama
Coordinates
31.35369, −87.33613
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-wildfork

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. 1941 BuiltStarted by the CCC and completed by the Alabama Forestry Commission in 1941, per the RegisterSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1941 and 1981
  3. 1981 ClosedBlog says the tower was closed after the retirement due to budget restrictionsSource: jacksonsramblings.com
  4. 1981 Last staffedLast manned by Forest Ranger Colbert Wright of Excel, who retired in 1981, per the blogSource: jacksonsramblings.com
  5. No record between 1981 and 2009
  6. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 18, 2009 as US 854, AL 32; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Wildfork Lookout Tower is on the Monroe County side of Old Stage Road, which here marks the county line.1,2

The Civilian Conservation Corps started the tower, and the Alabama Forestry Commission finished it in 1941, according to the National Historic Lookout Register.1 That fits a wider pattern: when the United States entered the Second World War, the CCC stopped building fire towers and left some of them unfinished.3 A state forestry history credits the CCC's work with 49 fire-detection towers.4

The Register counts Wildfork among the few surviving 120-foot towers and describes it as an International Derrick design with sun visors shading the cab.1

A blog post says the last person to man the tower was Forest Ranger Colbert Wright of Excel, who retired in 1981. The same post says the tower was closed afterward because of budget restrictions.2 We found no staffing history from earlier years.1,2

The Register lists the tower as US 854, AL 32 and gives its registration date as December 18, 2009, on the nomination of Thomas Kaufmann.1 The blog gives the state number as AL 33.2 We followed the Register.1

The blog links two videos of the tower, one shot in 2016 and one in December 2020, so it seems to have still stood at least until then.2 We found no report of its condition since then and no information about whether the public may visit. We would not encourage climbing it, and anyone who wants to see it should check with the Alabama Forestry Commission first.1,2

  1. Wildfork Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/wildfork-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Wildfork Tower, Jackson's Ramblings, https://jacksonsramblings.com/wildfork-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). ↩
  4. A History of State Forestry in Alabama, Alabama Forestry Commission, https://forestry.alabama.gov/Pages/Management/Forms/History_State_Forestry.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Wildfork 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.