FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Madison County, Virginia

Blakey Ridge Fire Tower

Late-1930s Virginia Department of Forestry Aermotor tower in Madison County, removed in 2018 over liability concerns. Reached by a rough jeep trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 2018 over liability concerns. A guide says nothing is to see at the summit beyond an FAA radio site, which the registers do not mention.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Jeep trail crosses Rapidan Wildlife Management Area land and adjoining private hunting land; a WMA access permit may be required.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No tower left to climb. Steep, rugged jeep trail of about 9 miles from Ruth Road (SR 658), roughly 740 feet of elevation gain.

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 x 7 cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
2,140 ft (652 m)
Agency
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative
Land
Unknown
Location
Madison County, Virginia
Coordinates
38.42740, −78.33713
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-blakey-ridge

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 its recorded height.

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. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNational Historic Lookout Register date November 17, 2008Source: nhlr.org
  2. 2018 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFormer Fire Lookout Sites Register date June 5, 2018Source: firetower.org
  3. 2018 RemovedRemoved in 2018 due to liability concerns (register); guide also says it came down in 2018Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, rockhounding.org
  4. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Blakey Ridge sits in Madison County, Virginia, at 2,140 feet (652 m).1,2,3 The Virginia Department of Forestry put up a fire tower there in the late 1930s.1,2 It was an 80-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 cab.3

The register says the tower operated for just 20 years.1 Later the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative owned it, and the tower served as a radio site.1,2

The National Historic Lookout Register lists the site as registered on November 17, 2008.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register added it on June 5, 2018.2 The tower came down that year.1,2 The register says it was removed because of liability concerns.1

A rock-collecting guide says the tower came down in 2018 and that nothing is left to see at the summit beyond an FAA radio site.4 The two registers do not mention an FAA site, so that detail is unconfirmed.1,2

The guide describes reaching the ridge by a steep, rugged jeep trail of about nine miles from Ruth Road (SR 658) outside Madison, with roughly 740 feet of climbing.4 It calls the road a public right-of-way, but says the route crosses wildlife-management land and adjoining private hunting land, and that a WMA access permit may be required, depending on activity and season.4 With the tower gone, there is no lookout to climb.1,2

  1. Blakey Ridge Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/blakey-ridge-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Blakey Ridge Fire Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/va/blakey-ridge-fire-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Blakey Ridge - FOREST LOOKOUTS, easternuslookouts.weebly.com, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/blakey-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Blakey Ridge Virginia Fire Tower and Blue Quartz Guide, rockhounding.org, https://rockhounding.org/us/va/blakely-ridge-fire-tower (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Blakey Ridge Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Blakey Ridge Fire Tower
Photo: 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, 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
  3. 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.