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Fire lookout · Prince William County, Virginia

Prince William Forest Park Tower Site

Wooden fire tower built 1942 near Prince William Forest Park HQ; moved to Partlow, Spotsylvania County, in 1961, where it is listed as standing. Original site now occupied by a visitor center.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The Forest Park tower was moved to Partlow in 1961 and is listed as standing there; the register says a visitor center now occupies the original site

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. No source read says whether the public may visit or climb the Partlow tower; a 2019 visit report says the visitor did not approach its base. The original site is inside a national park, but no source describes public access to the tower site itself.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerOriginal: wooden tower near the Forest Park headquarters (register). Moved tower at Partlow: 110-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab (NHLR)The design: Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1942
Height
Unknown
Elevation
218 ft (66 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Prince William County, Virginia
Coordinates
38.56120, −77.35000
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-va-prince-william-forest-park

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1942 BuiltRegister gives build year 1942; description says the tower was apparently erected at the beginning of WWIISource: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1942 and 1961
  3. 1961 RebuiltErected at Partlow in October 1961 by 13 Virginia Forestry Division staff members per the 1961 item; the NHLR entry gives the build year as 1961 and says 13 locals built itSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1961 MovedMoved to Partlow, Spotsylvania County, in 1961; the 1961 item says it was transferred from Prince William County Forest ParkSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1961 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1961".Source: FFLOS register entry
  6. No record between 1961 and 2017
  7. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterPartlow Lookout registered January 23, 2017 as US 1163, VA 29; nominated by Kristin ReynoldsSource: nhlr.org
  8. 2019 Condition assessmentVisit report dated August 9, 2019: some rust, missing window glass, cell-tower antenna suite, unstaffedSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterAdded to the Former Fire Lookout Sites register March 25, 2020; nominated by John McDonaldSource: firetower.org
  10. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

The Prince William Forest Park Tower Site marks a fire lookout that once stood near the park headquarters in Prince William County, Virginia.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes the tower as wooden, gives its build year as 1942, and puts its elevation at 218 feet (66 meters).1

The register says the tower seems to have gone up when World War II began, and that it was rarely used afterward.1 The register adds that it may first have stood south of Joplin Road, based on a 1948 transfer of land to the Marine Corps.1 An October 1961 item from The Free-Lance Star, reprinted by Forest Lookouts, reports that the tower sat unmanned once the war ended.2

In 1961 the tower was moved to Partlow, in Spotsylvania County.1 The same Free-Lance Star item reports that 13 Virginia Forestry Division staff members put it up there that week, on a landowner's property.2

The National Historic Lookout Register's Partlow entry describes the moved tower as a 110-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab. It credits the 1961 build to 13 locals, which differs from the Forestry Division staff described in the 1961 item.3,2 That entry says the tower came from "Prince William State Forest," where it had stood since World War II.3 The Forest Park entry and the 1961 item both name the Forest Park instead, so the sources do not agree on which park or forest it came from.1,3,2 The sources also describe the structure differently: the register calls the original a wooden tower, while the Partlow entry calls the moved one an Aermotor tower.1,3

The Partlow tower is listed as standing.4,3 A 2019 visit report noted some rust, some missing window glass, and a cell-tower antenna setup on the tower.3 It also listed the tower as unstaffed and said the visitor saw security cameras and did not go to the base.3 No source read says whether the public may visit or climb it. The Virginia Department of Forestry administers it, so ask the department before any visit, and do not climb it.3

At the original site, the register says a visitor center now occupies the place where the tower stood.1 The National Park Service administers Prince William Forest Park, and its contact page lists a phone line for visitor and park information under the park's headquarters address.1,5

  1. Prince William Forest Park Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/va/prince-william-forest-park-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Virginia - Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/virginia.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Partlow Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/va/partlow-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Virginia, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/va/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Contact Us, Prince William Forest Park, National Park Service (nps.gov), https://www.nps.gov/prwi/contacts.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

A visitor center now occupies the site of the tower
A visitor center now occupies the site of the towerPhoto: John McDonald, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.