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Fire lookout · Early County, Georgia

Early County Fire Tower

Georgia Forestry Commission tower in Blakely, built 1952 and staffed until 1987; now a community landmark and radio site. Public access not described.

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
Not staffed (as of 1987)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1952
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
283 ft (86 m)
Agency
Georgia Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Early County, Georgia
Coordinates
31.36580, −84.94153
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ga-early-county

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 3.0 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. 1952 BuiltConstructed by the Georgia Forestry CommissionSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1952 and 1987
  3. 1987 Last staffedRegister says staffed until 1987Source: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1987 and 2006
  5. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 15, 2006 as US 661 / GA 5Source: nhlr.org
  6. 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 Georgia Forestry Commission built the Early County Fire Tower in 1952 in Blakely.1 The register describes a 100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, and says the tower was staffed until 1987.1 Around then the state was changing how it watched for fires. In the late 1980s the commission moved away from staffed towers toward aerial patrols, and many towers were scrapped and sold.2

The register says the tower is now a community landmark and is used as a radio facility.1 It was entered on the National Historic Lookout Register on March 15, 2006, as US 661 and GA 5.1

The register does not say whether the public may climb the tower or drive up to it, and it does not mention any particular fire the tower helped fight.1 Because it is still used as a radio facility, ask the Georgia Forestry Commission, which administers the tower, before visiting.1

  1. Early County Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ga/early-county-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Georgia Firehouses & Towers, Vanishing Georgia, https://vanishinggeorgia.com/tag/georgia-firehouses-towers/page/2/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Early County Fire 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, 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.