Tennessee lookout towers (original) (raw)

The table and clickable map above show the location or former location of lookout towers in Tennessee. Many have been removed, and most locations are now private property. From the Google map aerial imagery or "streetview", it may be possible to determine if a tower is still standing. You are advised not to climb the towers, often steps have been removed or are rotten. Most of the data is harvested from the USGS topo maps, county mapsand NGS datasheets. Special thanks to Jerry Lutts, Ron Stafford (FFLA) Bill Stowel, Peter Barr, Tom Owens, and Tennessee forestry staff Steve Johnson, Ward Tarkington, Bobby Linville, Gerald Eaton, Tommy Franks, Darren Webb, Chris Carney, and Brook Smith. I have given unofficial names to towers that were not named on the USGS maps or on the list of towers provided by the state forestry office. Numbers in the table (e.g., 4-7) are state forest tower numbers (district-tower) from 1976 list of towers. Many of the district offices had district mapsshowing tower locations with compass circles for fire triangulation on 5-minute grid. Names in the table above with a "?" means the location is only approximate (no clue). Six character PIDs (e.g., FD1605) in the Info column are NGS datasheet PIDs, use this NGS tool to retrieve datasheeets. Elevation data is based on USGS 10m DEM data and was harvested from USGS seamless elevation serverand edited where USGS topo had a benchmark. Corrections and additions are welcome.

The highest tower site (observation) is Clingmans Dome (6643'). The highest site for a standing fire tower in TN is Mount Cammerer (4928'). In the Smokies on the NC side, the highest site for a standing tower is Mt Sterling (5842').

In 1905, the first USFS fire lookout tower was placed in operation in Greenville, Maine. The Great Fire of 1910, a 3-million acre wildfire in the northwest, motivated tower building across the country. The CCC in 1933 began building towers and there were about 8,000 towers in the US by 1940. Tower building continued through the 1950s. [still gathering info on the history of lookout towers in Tennessee ...] Tennessee's first fire tower was at Cagle. From 1933 to 1941, the Civilian Conservation Corps erected 98 lookout towers in Tennessee. (Read more about CCC towers.) The Cherokee National Forest (CNF) had 18 fire towers.

Smoky Mountain lookout towers Google map
Lookout towers (or former locations) on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountain National ParkincludeBunker Hill,Rich Mountain,Cove Mountain (standing),Blanket Mountain,Ben Parton,Cliff Top,Clingmans Dome (standing),Greenbrier,Mount Guyot, and Mount Cammerer (standing), Nearby on the Foothills Parkway is the Look Rock observation tower. Smoky Mountain fire tower locations on theNC side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park include Mount Sterling (standing),Shuckstack (standing),High Rocks (removed),Spruce Mountain (removed). Standing near the NC side of the park areMount NobleandBarnett Knob.

Wildlife viewing platforms are located atHatfield knob (elk cam),Hiwassee WMA (cranes),Blythe Ferry,Cove Lake,Kyker Bottoms, Reelfoot Lakesouth platform and photo,north platform (KY). Also viewing platforms at Chickasaw and Lake Isomwildlife refuges (article) and otherviewing platforms. TTU's Center Hill Lakeobservation towerand Edgar Evins State Park viewing tower.