Joe B. Shirley Fire Tower

Fire towers are a symbol of forest conservation even though their original role has been replaced with aircraft surveillance.

Many of the towers across the U.S. have been abandoned or destroyed making ours one of the few remaining. The 100 ft Aermotor model with 7ft x 7ft metal cab constructed in 1968 by the Alabama Forestry Commission. It replaced an earlier wooden tower dating to the 1940s. The Lookout was used in the 1950s by NASA to track and record telemetry from Sputnik 1 and Explorer 1 satellites. Listed on the National Historic Lookout Register

October 18, 2006 – NHLR #US 680.AL3.

DONATED BY JANE BARR – 2007