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Fire lookout · Brunswick County, Virginia

Pleasant Shade Fire Tower

Also known as Pleasant Shade (North Brunswick)

Brunswick County lookout first erected 1933; 1996 register says still operational, but the state list now marks it gone. No removal date found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. State list marks it gone; the 1996 register described it as still operational. No removal date or cause found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerGalvanized steel tower made by Aermotor Co.The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
348 ft (106 m)
Agency
Virginia Department of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Brunswick County, Virginia
Coordinates
36.76121, −77.66265
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-pleasant-shade

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 3.4 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 BuiltFirst erected in 1933, according to the National Historic Lookout RegisterSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1933 and 1996
  3. 1996 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, December 30, 1996Source: nhlr.org
  4. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

In October 1933 The Times Dispatch reported that Brunswick County had agreed to share the cost of a lookout with a neighboring county 1. The spot chosen was the highest point between Lawrenceville and Norfolk, and a district fire warden said about 60 percent of recent fires in the area had happened within view of the proposed tower 1.

According to the National Historic Lookout Register, the tower went up in 1933 2. It was made of galvanized steel by the Aermotor Co. and is listed as about 100 feet tall 2. When the register listed it in December 1996, the tower was still in use during spells of high fire danger, to aid spotting from the air 2. The register names the Virginia Department of Forestry as its administrator 2.

The 1996 register and the current state list describe different times: the register says the tower was operating in 1996, while the state list now marks the site as gone 2,3. No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, and I could not find whether the public can visit it.

  1. Pleasant Shade, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/pleasant-shade.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Pleasant Shade Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/pleasant-shade-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Virginia lookouts list, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

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

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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

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

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: 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, status, agency, 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.