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Fire lookout · Ross County, Ohio

Brush Ridge Lookout

Also known as Brush Ridge (Tar Hollow)

1934 metal fire tower in Tar Hollow State Forest, Ross County, Ohio; restored by the state, and a 2026 trail guide says visitors can climb it.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. A 2026 trail guide says visitors can climb the tower. The state's own page could not be read, so check with the park before a visit.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached from South Ridge Road in Tar Hollow State Park; the 2010 visit report gives directions from South Ridge Road (Forest Road 3).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower73-foot McClintock-Marshall metal tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: McClintic-Marshall
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
73 ft (22.3 m)
Elevation
1,172 ft (357 m)
Agency
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Ross County, Ohio
Coordinates
39.37500, −82.76306
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-oh-brush-ridge

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.

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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. 1934 BuiltBuilt 1934 per the marker, the register's build field and the record. The register's description says constructed in 1933.Sources: nhlr.org, hmdb.org
  2. 1934 StaffedAn October 1934 Chillicothe Gazette item says George Strausbaugh of the Tucson community will be towermanSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 2006
  4. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 15, 2006 as US 682, OH 3Source: 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Brush Ridge Lookout stands in Tar Hollow State Forest in Ross County, Ohio. A state historical marker places it in Harrison Township and says it was built in 1934 and stands 73 feet tall.1 The register describes a McClintock-Marshall metal tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, and says it was constructed in 1933.2 The register's own build field gives 1934, so the sources give two years that sit close together.2

A January 1934 Chillicothe Gazette item, quoted on a Forest Lookouts page, called the new tower on Brush Ridge just completed. It said the tower would help with fires across eastern Ross County and nearby counties.3 In October 1934 the same paper named George Strausbaugh of the Tucson community as the coming towerman.3 I found no record of who staffed the tower after that.

The register says the Division of Forestry's Fire Tower Restoration Project has restored the tower, but gives no date for the work. It was registered on December 15, 2006.2

A 2026 trail guide lists the Brush Ridge fire tower among the highlights of Tar Hollow State Park, which sits inside Tar Hollow State Forest, and describes it as a tower visitors can climb.4 A 2010 visit report filed with the register found it easy to reach from South Ridge Road and noted that some stairs needed replacing.2 I could not reach the state's current page for the tower, so check with the park before a visit.

  1. Brush Ridge Fire Tower, Ohio historical marker, Historical Marker Database (hmdb.org), https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=304844 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Brush Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/oh/brush-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Brush Ridge, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/brush-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Tar Hollow State Park: Fire Tower Views and Remote Ridge Trails, by Ryan Jordan, Hiking Ohio, https://hiking-ohio.com/tar-hollow-state-park/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Brush Ridge Lookout
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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.