FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Floyd County, Virginia

Haycock Mountain Lookout

Also known as Haycock Knob (Pocket Ridge)

Floyd County tower on privately owned land: an 80-foot Aermotor built in the 1940s with its watchman's cabin still standing; standing and on the Register since 2017.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Register lists a private owner and withholds coordinates at the owner's request; no visitor information given

Visit & stay

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

Access

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

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor tower with watchman's cabinThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1940
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Private owner
Land
Unknown
Location
Floyd County, Virginia
Coordinates
36.86664, −80.25378
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-haycock-mountain

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 3.5 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. 1940 BuiltRegister gives only 'the 1940s'; 1940 stands in for that decade, not a confirmed yearSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1940 and 2017
  3. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 23, 2017 as US 1166, VA 32Source: nhlr.org
  4. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Haycock Mountain Lookout stands in Floyd County, Virginia, and the Register lists its owner as a private party rather than a public agency.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association also files it under the name Haycock Knob (Pocket Ridge).2

The Register describes an 80-foot Aermotor tower built in the 1940s.1 Its standout feature is the watchman's cabin, which the Register says still stands whole.1 Few other Virginia towers, the Register notes, keep their cabin this complete.1

The sources I read record no staffing, named fires or other history for the tower.1,2,3

The Association lists the tower as standing.2 The Register registered it on January 23, 2017, as US 1166 and VA 32.1 A Forest Lookouts index of Virginia towers also lists a Haycock Mountain in Floyd County.3

The Register does not list the tower's coordinates, because the owner asked it not to, so this story omits them.1 No source describes public access or a rental.1,2,3 Because the land is privately owned, do not climb the tower or walk onto the property without the owner's permission.1

  1. Haycock Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/haycock-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Virginia - Forest Fire Lookout Association, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Virginia - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/virginia.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Haycock Mountain Lookout
Photo: Kristin Reynolds, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Watchman's Cabin
Watchman's CabinPhoto: Kristin Reynolds, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Watchman's Cabin
Watchman's CabinPhoto: Kristin Reynolds, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Watchman's Cabin
Watchman's CabinPhoto: 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, county, 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: location, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.