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Fire lookout · James City, Virginia

James City Fire Tower

Also known as James City (Toano), Toano

1933 steel lookout near Toano, first built for Chesapeake Pulp and Paper; now privately owned, with most of its boards missing according to the Register.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. The Register lists a private owner and describes no public access.

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 tower100-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a glass-enclosed cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
130 ft (40 m)
Agency
Private Owner (David Nice)
Land
Unknown
Location
James City, Virginia
Coordinates
37.43443, −76.83196
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-james-city

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 3.2 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. 1933 BuiltDaily Press report of October 17, 1933 says a look-out was erected for Chesapeake Pulp and Paper Co. on H. P. Hazelwood's land; the Register also gives 1933Sources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1942 EventFederal survey station description: owned by the Chesapeake Corporation and operated in cooperation with the state Forest ServiceSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1942 and 2022
  4. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 25, 2022 as US 1704, VA 45Source: 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.

The James City Fire Tower, also known as the Toano tower and the Barhamsville lookout, was built in 1933.1,2 A newspaper report of October 17, 1933, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page for the site, said a look-out had been erected on H. P. Hazelwood's land by the Chesapeake Pulp and Paper Company for observing forest fires. The same report says the company held extensive timber holdings in James City and New Kent counties.2

The Register calls it a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower.1 A 1942 federal survey description calls it a steel tower on four legs, about 100 feet high, with a glass-enclosed cab, and places it about two miles southeast of Barhamsville.2 The 1933 report gave a height of 120 feet, so the sources disagree on height.2 The two later descriptions agree on about 100 feet.1,2

The 1942 survey names the Chesapeake Corporation as the owner and says the tower was run in cooperation with the state Forest Service.2 The Register now lists a private owner, David Nice.1 None of the sources read explain when or how the ownership or the company name changed. The Register added the tower to its list on December 25, 2022.1

No source read names anyone who staffed the tower or any fire it watched.

The Register's description says most of the boards are missing. The cab still seems to keep most of its glass panels. The Register also describes a stand at the spot meant for the Osborne fire finder, but the finder itself is no longer there.1 The sources do not say whether visitors can go up. The tower stands on privately owned land, so anyone interested should ask the owner first and should not climb it.

  1. James City Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/james-city-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Toano, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/toano.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of James City Fire Tower
Photo: Rocco Germani, via 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: 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, 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.