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Fire lookout · Jefferson County, Florida

Monticello FC HQ

Also known as Monticello Fire Control Headquarters Fire Tower

Jefferson County, FL 100-foot Aermotor tower built 1956; auctioned August 2009 and dismantled September 14-16, 2009; Gum Creek move was only tentative.

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
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1956
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
226 ft (69 m)
Agency
Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Jefferson County, Florida
Coordinates
30.51094, −83.87676
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-fl-monticello-fire-control-headquarters

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 2.9 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. 1955 EventLand for the tower bought from Otto and Elsa Lorenzen on November 4, 1955Sources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu
  2. 1956 BuiltErected March 1956 by Aermotor of Chicago, 100 feet tall, at a cost of $3,855.29Sources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu
  3. No record between 1956 and 1995
  4. 1995 EventArticle says state lookout positions were closed in 1995 or 1996 and Jefferson County phased out its three towers shortly afterSource: ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu
  5. 2009 EventTentative plan: top 40-foot section with cab to become an observation tower at Gum Creek Hunting Preserve, Madison County; not confirmedSource: ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu
  6. 2009 RemovedDismantled into sections starting Monday September 14, 2009; by noon September 16 only concrete footers remainedSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu
  7. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Forest Lookouts lists this tower as "Monticello FC HQ," in Jefferson County, Florida.1

The land was bought from Otto and Elsa Lorenzen on November 4, 1955.1 In March 1956 Aermotor of Chicago erected the 100-foot tower for $3,855.29, a price that included materials and labor.1,2 Its cab measured seven feet by seven feet.2

For more than 53 years, the tower kept watch over the woodlands of Jefferson County.2 A 2009 newspaper article reported that lookout positions in the state were closed in 1995 or 1996, and that Jefferson County phased out its three towers shortly afterward.2

In August 2009 the Division of Forestry sold the tower at auction for $2,102, and the buyer had 45 days to move it.1,2 A crew from Cross Environmental Services of Crystal Springs began taking it apart on Monday, September 14, 2009.2 Forest Lookouts says the tower was dismantled into sections and moved.1 By noon on September 16 only the concrete footers were left.2

The paper reported a tentative plan for the parts.2 The top 40-foot section, cab included, was to become a viewing tower at Gum Creek Hunting Preserve, north of Greenville in Madison County. The two 20-foot sections were to be put back together there and used as a viewing deck, and the base would probably be lost because of its design.2 The same article identifies the 80-foot tower already at Gum Creek as the former Ashville tower, so the sources do not confirm where this tower ended up.2

No source we read describes the site now, and none says whether the public can visit it.

  1. Monticello - Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/monticello1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. "Jefferson County Fire Towers To Be A Thing Of The Past... One Tower Being Moved Into Madison County," Madison Enterprise-Recorder, Monticello News special by Fran Hunt, September 25, 2009, https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/02/84/05/00398/92509_Page_08.txt (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: name, county, what it is built of, design, height, status, 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
  2. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: location, elevation, type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.