FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Baker County, Florida

East Fire Tower

East (Taylor) Fire Tower, a 1931 Aermotor in Osceola National Forest, NHLR-registered 2013; no dated source confirms it stands today.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Inside Osceola National Forest. No source read says the tower cab is open to climbers.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Osceola National Forest Road 202 (East Tower Trail) runs between CR 250 and CR 125 to a primitive hunting camp; onX recommends 4WD and high clearance.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor LS-4 tower with a 7x7 foot cab (NHLR)The design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
125 ft (38 m)
Agency
Osceola National Forest (USDA Forest Service)
Land
Federal land
Location
Baker County, Florida
Coordinates
30.38273, −82.32984
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-fl-east-fire

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 2.9 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. 1931 BuiltErected as a 100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7 cab; formerly the Taylor Fire Tower; third lookout built on the Osceola National ForestSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1931 and 2013
  3. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNHLR date registered September 1, 2013Source: nhlr.org
  4. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The East Fire Tower in Baker County, Florida, was built in 1931 as a 100-foot Aermotor LS-4 tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,2 The register notes that the tower was once called the Taylor Fire Tower, and that it was the forest's third lookout.1

A Flickr album of Osceola National Forest historic archives, posted by National Forests in Florida, includes a 1931 photo titled Taylor Fire Tower 1931 and marks it as public domain.3 I found no staffing record, fire history or dated condition report for the tower in the sources I read.

The register lists the tower as registered on September 1, 2013.1 No dated source I could read confirms that it still stands, so the register listing should not be taken as proof of its present condition.1

A forest road, Osceola National Forest Road 202, runs between CR 250 and CR 125 and leads to the East Tower Camp, a primitive hunting site.4 The mapping guide recommends four-wheel drive and high clearance for the road.4 The Forest Service lists the camp as year-round primitive camping, though it is mostly a hunting base during general gun season.5 Nothing I read says the tower's cab is open to climbers.

  1. East Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/fl/east-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. East Tower (Taylor GS), Forest Lookouts (Eastern US), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/east-tower-taylor-gs.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Taylor Fire Tower 1931, National Forests in Florida (Flickr), https://www.flickr.com/photos/60261693@N06/19774208455/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. East Tower - Osceola NF 202, onX Maps, https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/trails/us/florida/east-tower-osceola-nf-202-9yz3nk3w56lk (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. East Tower Hunt Camp, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/florida/recreation/east-tower-hunt-camp (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

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

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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 LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: what it is built of, design, 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, visiting details, 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.