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Fire lookout · Issaquena County, Mississippi

Rolling Fork Lookout Tower

100 ft Aermotor LS-40 tower; NHLR places it in Issaquena County (Forest Lookouts says Sharkey); vacated by MFC, with an unclear register sentence saying county maintenance uses it; no build date.

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
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100 ft Aermotor LS-40 with an internal straight staircaseThe 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
105 ft (32 m)
Agency
Issaquena County Maintenance Dept. (register says MFC vacated the site)
Land
Unknown
Location
Issaquena County, Mississippi
Coordinates
32.91072, −90.95525
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ms-rolling-fork

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. 2022 Condition assessmentRegister records a site visit on 7/8/22; the description at that listing says the bottom flight of stairs has been removedSource: nhlr.org
  2. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register July 10, 2022 as US 1656, MS 22; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
  3. 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 Rolling Fork Lookout Tower is listed on the National Historic Lookout Register as US 1656, MS 22.1 The register places it in Issaquena County, Mississippi, and gives its elevation as 105 feet (32 meters).1 It lists a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40 with a straight staircase inside, and it gives the build date as unknown.1

The county is not settled. The Forest Lookouts page for Rolling Fork places it in Sharkey County and lists the Mississippi Forestry Commission as the agency.2 We have kept the register's county here, and the two sources still disagree.1,2

The register records a site visit on July 8, 2022.1 It notes that the bottom flight of stairs has been removed.1 It also says the Mississippi Forestry Commission vacated the site.1 An unclear sentence seems to add that the Issaquena County Maintenance Department now uses it.1

A deadly EF4 tornado hit the town of Rolling Fork on March 24, 2023.3 That storm formed in northern Issaquena County, the county the register gives for the tower, but none of the sources we read say whether it reached the lookout.3,1

The register gives no access information and no staffing history.1 Its notes on the removed stairs and on county use do not say whether the public may visit.1

  1. Rolling Fork Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ms/rolling-fork-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Rolling Fork, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/rolling-fork.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Fork,_Mississippi (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rolling Fork Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Rolling Fork Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Rolling Fork Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Rolling Fork 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. 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.