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Fire lookout · Wicomico County, Maryland

Quantico Lookout

Wicomico Co., MD steel lookout near Quantico: 1931 newspapers vs NHLR's 1941 date; moved in 1999 to the Chesapeake Fire Museum in Hebron; original site listed gone.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at the Chesapeake Fire Museum

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Moved in 1999 to the Chesapeake Fire Museum in Hebron; the Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the original Quantico site as gone

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 1970s)

Facts

Status
Moved sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor steel tower with a 7' x 7' metal cab and a 'widow's walk' roof (NHLR)The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1931
Height
140 ft (42.7 m)
Elevation
33 ft (10 m)
Agency
Maryland Forest Service built it (NHLR); the Chesapeake Fire Museum administers it (NHLR)
Land
Unknown
Location
Wicomico County, Maryland
Coordinates
38.36211, −75.69262
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-md-quantico

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.1 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. 1931 BuiltJuly 1931 newspaper: a 100-foot tower recently erected at Quantico; Forest Worker, September 1931: ready for service in July. Conflicts with the NHLR 1941 dateSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1941 BuiltNHLR: constructed near Hebron in Wicomico County in 1941 by the Maryland Forest ServiceSource: nhlr.org
  3. 1942 FireFire at Hall's Swamp near Allen, reported April 23, 1942; controlled after four hours, broke out again at noonSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1942 StaffedNewspaper report of an April 23, 1942 fire at Hall's Swamp near Allen names towerman Marion Bailey of the Quantico lookoutSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1942 and 1993
  6. 1993 EventState transferred ownership of the 0.60-acre Quantico tower site to the University of Maryland (DNR caption)Source: dnr.maryland.gov
  7. 1999 MovedTower moved to the Chesapeake Fire Museum, HebronSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  8. 1999 RestoredTop 60 feet and cab reconstructed and restored at the museumSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  9. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered March 1, 2000 as US 338, MD 1Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2007 Condition assessmentDNR report dated April 2007: tower now resides at Chesapeake Fire Museum, HebronSource: dnr.maryland.gov
  11. Date unknown EventUsed for fire detection and as an Aircraft Warning Service (AWS) site in World War II (NHLR; no year given)Source: nhlr.org
  12. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to the Chesapeake Fire Museum.Source: FFLA
  13. Date unknown Last staffedLast staffed in the 1970s (NHLR; no exact year given)Source: nhlr.org
  14. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Quantico Lookout stood near Quantico, in Wicomico County, Maryland.1 A newspaper reported in July 1931 that a 100-foot tower had recently been erected there.1 A September 1931 item in The Forest Worker said the tower was ready to use in July, and that woodland owners and the county commissioners had helped pay for it.1 The National Historic Lookout Register gives a different account: a 140-foot Aermotor tower built near Hebron in 1941 by the Maryland Forest Service, and financed by the federal government.2 We could not reconcile the dates, the height or the funding, so treat each of them as disputed.

In April 1942 a newspaper report of a fire at Hall's Swamp near Allen named towerman Marion Bailey at the Quantico lookout.1 The Register says the tower was used for fire detection and also as an Aircraft Warning Service site in World War II, and that it was last staffed in the 1970s.2

The Register says the tower was moved in 1999 to the Chesapeake Fire Museum, where its top 60 feet were reconstructed and restored.2 A 2007 state report places the tower at the Chesapeake Fire Museum in Hebron, and says the state transferred the 0.60-acre original site to the University of Maryland in 1993.3

Today the Forest Fire Lookout Association lists a standing relocated Quantico tower, and marks the original Quantico site as gone.4 We found no source describing what, if anything, remains at the old site, or whether the museum tower can be climbed. Check with the Chesapeake Fire Museum before you visit.

  1. Quantico, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/quantico.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Quantico Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/md/quantico-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Forestry Towers and Forestry Tower Properties, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, https://dnr.maryland.gov/forests/documents/fire/Fire_Tower_Report.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Maryland Fire Lookout Towers, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/md/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Quantico Lookout
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.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, wartime use, 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. 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.