Fire lookout · Sussex County, Delaware
Ellendale Tower Site
Sussex County, DE state tower erected 1931, turned over to State Police communications, and removed between 2002 and 2006; no source describes the site now.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower100-foot steel Aermotor LS-40 with a seven-foot square cabin, upper half enclosed in glassThe design: Aermotor LS-40
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1931
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- 46 ft (14 m)
- Agency
- Delaware state forestry department (annual reports of the State Forester)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Sussex County, Delaware
- Coordinates
- 38.79611, −75.39139 sources disagree
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-de-ellendale
View from the cab
What the lookout saw from its 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.
This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.
Downloads about 3.5 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
- 1931 BuiltErection started July 29, 1931; towers opened for service October 15, 1931. FFLOS also gives 1931.Sources: firelookout.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1933 StaffedTowermen worked each tower; a small map was placed in each so towermen could check one another's locations of a smokeSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1941 AlteredWindow sash and framing replaced with a new designSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1946 AlteredInsulated cabin ceiling installed; Ellendale was the last of three towers improved (year is the FY1946 report year)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1951 AlteredWired for electric power following a contract for radio installationSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1951 and 2002
- 2002 RemovedTurned over to State Police for communications purposes, then removed sometime between 2002 and 2006. The year is the earliest bound of that range, not a confirmed date.Sources: firelookout.org, firetower.org, firelookout.org
- 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 11, 2008 as FFLOS US 71, DE 2Source: firetower.org
- TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.
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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The state put up the Ellendale tower in 1931 as one of a group of towers erected that year.1 Erection started on July 29, and the towers went into service on October 15 of that year.1 Each tower was built of steel, with a wooden staircase inside and a seven-foot square cabin glazed across its upper half.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association describes this one as a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40, placed at a DOT compound.2 The state's own figures give 100 feet from ground level to the bottom of the cabin floor, or 110 feet overall.1
The tower stood on a 50-foot rise roughly two miles east of Ellendale, just south of the Ellendale-Milton state highway.1 Reaching the site by telephone meant building a 1.8-mile line out from Ellendale.1
The towers were staffed.3 In 1933 each tower was issued a small map so that towermen could compare smoke locations with one another.3 Reports through the 1930s and 1940s refer to towermen at work.3 A 1934 report says glare in the cabins was hard on the towermen's eyes, so dark green curtains went up in three towers, Ellendale among them.3 The window sash was replaced in 1941, and by 1946 the Ellendale cabin had insulated ceilings, the last of three towers to get them.3 In 1951 the tower was wired for electric power, one of four towers wired after a radio installation contract was awarded.3
The association says the State Police took the tower over for communications, and that it was removed at some point between 2002 and 2006.2,4,5 The association's page carries a photograph of the tower captioned 2002.2
No source describes what remains at the site now.
- Ellendale, Forest Lookouts (fan site transcribing state forester annual reports), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/ellendale.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Ellendale, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/de/ellendale/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Misc. and General Info., Forest Lookouts (fan site transcribing state forester annual reports), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/misc.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Ellendale Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/de/ellendale-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Delaware Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/de/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
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 the location by 630 m.
- FFLA: 38.79611, −75.39139
- FFLOS: 38.79100, −75.38817
They share a register number.
The map uses the position from FFLA.
Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: name, county, elevation, register numbers, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: location, type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: height, 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
- 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
- FFLOS register entry US 71 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Ellendale (Forest Fire Lookout Association) (opens another site)
- Misc. and General Info. (Forest Lookouts (fan site transcribing state forester annual reports)) (opens another site)
- Delaware Lookouts (Forest Fire Lookout Association) (opens another site)
- FFLA Delaware lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Ellendale (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.