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Fire lookout · Dickenson County, Virginia

Bartlick (Wildcat) Tower Site

Also known as Bartlick

Gone Bartlick (Wildcat) tower in Dickenson County, VA: CCC-built in 1936, removed 1978; the site is now private land with concrete footers left.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. FFLOS says the former tower site is now private property

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed 1978; concrete footers remain on private land

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower with a lookout cabin built by CCC crewsThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,096 ft (639 m)
Agency
Virginia Department of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Dickenson County, Virginia
Coordinates
37.23778, −82.26889
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-bartlick-wildcat

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.3 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. 1936 BuiltSteel Aermotor tower bought that summer for $1,448; CCC crews built it with a lookout cabinSource: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1936 and 1978
  3. 1978 RemovedFFLOS Removed field: 1978Source: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1978 and 2018
  5. 2018 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with FFLOS July 30, 2018Source: firetower.org
  6. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Bartlick Lookout, which locals also called Wildcat Tower, stood near Wildcat Hollow in Dickenson County, Virginia.1

The listing says the tower went up in 1936. The tower was a steel Aermotor model, bought earlier in that summer for $1,448, and CCC crews put it up with a lookout cabin on the site.1 Local memory puts the climb at 114 steps to the top.1 The listing names the Virginia Department of Forestry as administrator.1 The site was added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on July 30, 2018.1

The tower was removed in 1978.1 The land is now privately owned, and the listing says concrete footers from the tower remain.1 A second list of former lookouts marks the tower as gone.2

  1. Bartlick (Wildcat) Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/va/bartlick-wildcat-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Virginia - Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bartlick (Wildcat) Tower Site
Photo: Jack Jones, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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, status, agency, access, 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.