FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Breathitt County, Kentucky

Camp Robinson Lookout Tower

Also known as Robinson Forest Fire Tower

1934 CCC-built Aermotor fire tower in Robinson Forest, Breathitt County, Kentucky; NHLR-registered 1996 and described as staffed. Current staffing not confirmed by a second source.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. A public trail leads to the tower, but no source read says whether the tower itself may be climbed.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Boardinghouse Trail, 0.9 mile, gains 660 feet on its way to the fire tower
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of undated)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
746 ft (227 m)
Agency
Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky
Land
Unknown
Location
Breathitt County, Kentucky
Coordinates
37.46713, −83.15765
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ky-camp-robinson

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 3.4 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt by the CCC, per the Register; the university history dates CCC fire-tower work to 1933-1937Sources: nhlr.org, robinson-forest.mgcafe.uky.edu
  2. 1934 Replaced by a new structureReplaced two wooden towers and the Tip Rock observation siteSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1934 and 1996
  4. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 2, 1996 as US 158, KY 2Source: nhlr.org
  5. 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 Camp Robinson Lookout Tower stands in Robinson Forest, a University of Kentucky forest in Breathitt County, Kentucky.1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 100-foot Aermotor tower.1

The Register says Kentucky's woodlands once had more than 100 state towers, and that this is the one still in active service.1 It says the Civilian Conservation Corps built the tower in 1934, replacing two wooden towers and a site called Tip Rock within the 15,000-acre forest.1 The university's history says the Corps took part in projects in the forest between 1933 and 1937 that included fire towers, bridges and firebreaks.2

The Register says the university's Department of Forestry staffs the tower, but it gives no date for that statement. The other pages read do not describe current staffing.1,2,3

The Register gives February 2, 1996 as the registration date, under US 158, KY 2. Robert Muller of the university's forestry department nominated it.1

None of the pages read name fires the tower watched, and none say it has been moved, burned or restored.1,2,3

The university's public access page describes the Boardinghouse Trail as a 0.9-mile route that climbs 660 feet before it reaches the fire tower on the hilltop.3 The page does not say whether visitors may climb the tower itself, so ask the university before going up.3

  1. Camp Robinson Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ky/camp-robinson-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. History, Robinson Forest (University of Kentucky), https://robinson-forest.mgcafe.uky.edu/history (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Public Access Areas, Robinson Forest (University of Kentucky), https://robinson-forest.mgcafe.uky.edu/public-access (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Camp Robinson 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, visiting details, 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.