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Fire lookout · Muskingum County, Ohio

Blue Rock Fire Tower

Aermotor fire tower in Blue Rock State Forest, Muskingum County, OH; NHLR gives 1937 build, a 1938 item suggests construction ran into 1938; NHLR-registered 2007.

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 towerAermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
1,088 ft (332 m)
Agency
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Muskingum County, Ohio
Coordinates
39.83542, −81.84040
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-oh-blue-rock

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 3.7 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. 1937 BuiltNHLR gives 1937 as the build year; a May 1938 newspaper item describes footings poured and the tower still being constructedSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1938 EventMay 1938 Zanesville Signal item: footings poured for the 100-foot tower under construction; ranger house nearing completionSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 StaffedArthur M. Winland took his first job at Blue Rock State Forest in 1939 as a fire tower guardSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1939 and 1966
  5. 1966 EventIn September 1966 a state forestry plane skidded off a runway near the tower; the pilot had a minor injurySource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1966 and 2007
  7. 2007 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 20, 2007 as US 700, OH 5Source: nhlr.org
  8. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Blue Rock Fire Tower stands in the Blue Rock State Forest in Muskingum County, Ohio, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources administers it.1,2 It is an Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab.1

The Register gives 1937 as the build year.1 A Zanesville Signal item from May 24, 1938, reprinted on a Forest Lookouts page, says the concrete footings for the 100-foot tower were already poured, and the tower was still going up. That points to construction running into 1938, so the sources do not agree on the year it went up.1,2 The same item says the ranger who would be stationed at the park had a house nearly finished.2

A 1959 Times Recorder profile, also reprinted on that page, says ranger Arthur M. Winland started at the state forest in 1939, hired to staff a fire tower, and was named ranger in 1948.2 I found no named fires linked to the tower.

In September 1966 a state forestry plane slid off the end of a runway near the tower and went down a small bank. The pilot had a minor injury.2

The Register accepted the tower on July 20, 2007, as US 700, OH 5, with Steve W. Klan Sr. as nominator.1

Today the Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as standing.3 The sources I could read do not say whether the public can climb it now, so check with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources before a visit.

  1. Blue Rock Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/oh/blue-rock-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Blue Rock, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/blue-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Ohio Fire Lookout Towers, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/oh/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Blue Rock 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, what it is built of, 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, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.