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Fire lookout · Tazewell County, Virginia

Bearwallow Lookout

Also known as Bearwallow (Jewell Ridge)

Ridge tower on the Tazewell-Buchanan county line, Virginia; register says built 1933, a 1929 newspaper item says already built. Standing; access limited.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The Register says access to the tower is limited.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotorThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
62 ft (18.9 m)
Elevation
3,023 ft (921 m)
Agency
Arthur Stiltner
Land
Unknown
Location
Tazewell County, Virginia
Coordinates
37.22080, −81.75043
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-bearwallow

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 3.1 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. 1929 EventHarrisonburg Daily News item dated October 28, 1929: a 62-foot steel tower has been built on Bearwallow Ridge. Conflicts with the register's 1933 build year.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 BuiltRegister build year; describes a 60-foot Aermotor tower. Conflicts with the 1929 item.Source: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1933 and 2017
  4. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 23, 2017 as US 1171, VA 37Source: 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.

Bearwallow Lookout stands on Bearwallow Ridge, on the line between Tazewell and Buchanan counties in southwestern Virginia.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says it was one of many towers on ridges overlooking the route of today's Coal Heritage Trail.1

The sources disagree about when it went up. A Harrisonburg Daily News item dated October 28, 1929, which Forest Lookouts quotes, says a 62-foot steel tower had already been built on the ridge.2 The Register gives 1933 as the build year and describes a 60-foot Aermotor tower.1 I found nothing that explains the gap, so both dates are given as the sources state them. The height is 60 or 62 feet depending on the source.1,2 The sources I read do not say why this ridge was chosen.

I found no staffing history or named fires for the tower in the sources I read.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.3 The Register names Arthur Stiltner as its administrator.1 It recorded the tower on January 23, 2017, as US 1171, VA 37.1 The Register also says access to the tower is limited.1 The sources I read say nothing about its use after that, so its condition today is unverified. Do not climb the tower, and ask before any visit.

  1. Bearwallow Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/bearwallow-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bearwallow, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bearwallow.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Virginia, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bearwallow Lookout
Photo: Kristin Reynolds, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.