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Fire lookout · Louisa County, Virginia

Louisa Fire Tower

Also known as Louisa (Louisa Court House)

Louisa, VA 100-ft Aermotor on Virginia Department of Forestry grounds; NHLR dates it 1944 to the CCC, at odds with the CCC's 1933-1942 run; NHLR-registered 1995.

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. Beside a Department of Forestry building. The 2019 visit report describes that office as unmanned, with a sign listing phone numbers for assistance. No visitor rules found.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot steel cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1944
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
486 ft (148 m)
Agency
Virginia Department of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Louisa County, Virginia
Coordinates
38.02779, −78.01354
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-louisa

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. 1944 BuiltNHLR gives 1944, built by the CCC for the Virginia Forest Service. Conflicts with the CCC's 1933-1942 run (Wikipedia); treat as disputedSources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  2. No record between 1944 and 1995
  3. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 14, 1995Source: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1995 and 2019
  5. 2019 Condition assessmentVisit report dated August 9, 2019 (James Hull): fresh paint, intact windows, stairs not judgeable remotely, tower not staffedSource: nhlr.org
  6. 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.

Louisa's fire tower is a 100-foot Aermotor with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab, according to the National Historic Lookout Register.1 The Register says the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built it in 1944 for what was then the Virginia Forest Service, now the Department of Forestry.1

That date sits badly with the CCC's own timeline. Wikipedia says the program ran from 1933 to 1942.2 A 1991 state survey ties the growth in fire towers, from thirteen to one hundred, to the CCC period.3 We found no second source that settles the builder or the year, so the 1944 date should be treated as disputed.

The Virginia Forest Service was established in 1914, and the agency later built fire watchtowers in key locations across the state.4

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.5 Its August 2019 visit report said the tower appeared to have fresh paint and intact windows, but the stairs could not be judged from a distance.1 The same report marks the tower as not staffed.1

The tower sits beside a Department of Forestry building.1 The 2019 report says that office was unmanned and that a sign listed cell phone numbers to call for help.1 It also noted a housing development going up next to the Department of Forestry property.1 We found no visitor rules, so treat access as restricted and call the Department of Forestry before going near the site. We found no rental listing.

  1. Louisa Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/louisa-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Civilian Conservation Corps, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Survey of State-Owned Properties, Virginia Department of Forestry, 1991, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VA-001_Survey_State-Owned_Properties_VA_Dept_Forestry_1991_LCA_report.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. History, Virginia Department of Forestry, https://www.dof.virginia.gov/about/history/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Virginia, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

August 2019 photo
August 2019 photo (2019)Photo: James Hull, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.