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Fire lookout · Winston County, Mississippi

Mars Hill Lookout Tower

Winston County, MS tower; the Register lists a 100 ft Aermotor LS-40 registered in 2022 with lower treads removed and the site vacated by the MFC, possibly now timber-owned.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Register says the MFC vacated the site and it is possibly owned by a timber company; treat as private until the owner is confirmed

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Lower treads removed and many treads missing at the 2022 visit; do not climb
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100 ft Aermotor LS-40 with a straight internal staircase, 14 landings and 15 flightsThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
674 ft (205 m)
Agency
Mississippi Forestry Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Winston County, Mississippi
Coordinates
32.94610, −89.25454
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ms-mars-hill

View from the cab

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 10, 2022 as US 1662, MS 27 after a July 9, 2022 site visitSource: nhlr.org
  2. 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 Mars Hill Lookout Tower is in Winston County, Mississippi.1 The Register gives its elevation as 674 feet (205 meters).1

The Register describes a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40 with a straight internal staircase, 14 landings and 15 flights.1 It lists the build date as unknown and names the Mississippi Forestry Commission as administrator.1 We found no account of who built the tower, when it went up, or who staffed it.1

The tower was registered on July 10, 2022, as US 1662, MS 27, after a site visit on July 9, 2022.1

The visit notes are the main evidence about its condition. At that visit the lower treads had been removed and many treads were missing.1 The Register also says the site was vacated by the Forestry Commission and is possibly owned by a timber company.1 We could not confirm the owner from any other source.

Because the site may be owned by a timber company, treat it as private land. Do not climb the tower, and do not go onto the property without asking the owner first.

  1. Mars Hill Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ms/mars-hill-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mars Hill Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mars Hill Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mars Hill Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mars Hill Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mars Hill 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, 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: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.