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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Alabama

Wininger Lookout Tower

Jackson County, AL 120-foot International Derrick tower dated 1955, administered by the Alabama Forestry Commission and identical to Fabius Lookout; NHLR-registered 2009. Condition and access not stated.

Status unknown: We do not know yet whether it still stands. Register page gives no present condition

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
Status unknown sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower120-foot International Derrick structure, identical to its neighbor Fabius LookoutThe design: IDECO
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1955
Height
120 ft (36.6 m)
Elevation
1,576 ft (480 m)
Agency
Alabama Forestry Commission (administrator per register)
Land
Unknown
Location
Jackson County, Alabama
Coordinates
34.72720, −86.15204
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-al-wininger

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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History

Then and now

  1. 1955 BuiltRegister 'Built' field gives 1955; builder not named on the pageSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1955 and 2009
  3. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 30, 2009; nominated by Thomas KaufmannSource: nhlr.org
  4. TodayStatus unknownWe do not know whether it still stands.

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 National Historic Lookout Register dates the Wininger Lookout Tower on Cumberland Mountain in Jackson County, Alabama, to 1955, and lists the Alabama Forestry Commission as its administrator.1 The page describes a 120-foot International Derrick structure, identical to its neighbor, the Fabius Lookout.1 The register calls Fabius one of the few towers of that type the commission erected, and says it went up in the mid-1950s.2

The register puts the site at an elevation of 1,576 feet (480 m).1 Thomas Kaufmann nominated the tower, and the register entered it on June 30, 2009.1 The page does not name the builder, so this story does not say who put it up.1

We found no record of who staffed the tower or which fires it watched. The register gives no history of changes to the tower after it was built, and it does not say whether the tower still stands.1

Today the register gives no public access arrangements.1 We could not find a later report on the tower's condition, so its present status is unknown. Anyone interested in visiting should contact the Alabama Forestry Commission first, and should not climb the tower without permission.

  1. Wininger Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/wininger-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Fabius Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/al/fabius-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Wininger Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • Firefinder research: Status unknown
    • NHLR: Standing

    Research (2026-10-09) gives unknown where the source records give standing. The page shows the researched status; please tell us if it is wrong.

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, 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.