Fire lookout · Northumberland County, Virginia
Miskimon Fire Tower
1938 100-foot steel fire lookout at Miskimon, Virginia, built for Northumberland and Lancaster counties; listed as standing; NHLR-registered January 2, 2026.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go. No source read says whether the public may visit or climb the tower.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower100-foot steel tower; 10 by 10 foot cab with two windows per side; wooden landings at each ten-foot levelThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1938
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- 127 ft (39 m)
- Agency
- Virginia Department of Forestry
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Northumberland County, Virginia
- Coordinates
- 37.84097, −76.47662
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-va-miskimon
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
- 1938 BuiltBuilt April to June 1938 by the Forest Service division of the Virginia Conservation Commission for Northumberland and Lancaster counties; about $1,800 totalSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- 1938 First staffedUsed by spotters from the time of completion, per NHLR; seasonal, March or April to fall, 10 to 4 shiftSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1938 and 2026
- 2026 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 2, 2026 as US 1803, VA 49; nominated by Susan Anthony-TolbertSource: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The village of Miskimon sits on the county line between Northumberland and Lancaster in Virginia, and the Miskimon Fire Tower stands there.1,2 In spring 1938 the chairman of the Virginia Conservation Commission announced a forest fire lookout for both counties, to be erected by the Forest Service, a division of the commission.3 The completion was announced in June that year.3,2
The two counties each paid $25.2,3 A 1938 newspaper says that money covered the land, bought from Samuel Haynie, and gives the tower an investment of about $1,800.3 The Register says the $25 went toward a total cost of $1,800, so the two sources disagree on what it paid for.2 The tower arrived unassembled from Aermotor of Chicago, and local workers put it up.2
The tower stands 100 feet tall, with a 10-by-10-foot cab at the top that has two windows on each side.2 Wooden platforms sit at each ten-foot level, and a trap door gave the spotter access to the cab.2
Spotters worked the tower from about March or April until fall each year, generally on a shift from 10 to 4.2 The National Historic Lookout Register says the tower was vital to the farming and lumbering counties for spotting and fighting fires, from completion through the 1980s, or a little beyond.2 The sources read name no particular fire it watched.2
Today a cell tower stands beside it, and the Register notes that some of the landings are in disrepair.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Virginia list shows the tower as standing.4 The Rappahannock Record calls it almost 90 years old and the smaller, older of the two towers at the site.5
The Register accepted the tower on January 2, 2026, as US 1803, VA 49, on a nomination by Susan Anthony-Tolbert.2 She also wrote Almost in the Clouds, a book about the tower.5 The Record describes the book as the tower's story, while Wikipedia says the tower was the subject of a novel by her.5,1
None of the sources read says whether the public may visit or climb the tower.2 The Register names the Virginia Department of Forestry as administrator, so ask that office before any trip.2
- Miskimon, Virginia, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miskimon,_Virginia (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Miskimon Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/miskimon-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Miskimon, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/miskimon.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Virginia, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Book published on the Miskimon Fire Tower, Rappahannock Record, https://rrecord.com/book-published-on-the-miskimon-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1803 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Book published on the Miskimon Fire Tower (Rappahannock Record) (opens another site)
- Miskimon, Virginia (Wikipedia) (opens another site)
- FFLA Virginia lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Miskimon (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.