FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Putman County, Georgia

Mathis Fire Tower

1942 Aermotor fire tower on the Oconee National Forest, Putnam County, Georgia, built by the U.S. Forest Service; NHLR-registered 2007. No staffing, fire or access sources found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

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

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower110-foot Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1942
Height
110 ft (33.5 m)
Elevation
662 ft (202 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Putman County, Georgia
Coordinates
33.22528, −83.53147
Registers
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ga-mathis

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 3.0 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 BuiltNHLR: built by the USFS in 1942 on the Oconee National ForestSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1942 and 2007
  3. 2007 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 26, 2007 as US 705, GA 8; nominated by John MayerSource: 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.

Mathis Lookout stands in Putnam County, Georgia, on the Oconee National Forest.1,2 The U.S. Forest Service built it in 1942, and the register lists the agency as its administrator, with the Oconee Ranger District as a cooperator.1 The National Historic Lookout Register spells the county "Putman," but a Georgia towers list gives it as Putnam.1,2

The register describes a 110-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, and calls it the tallest federal fire tower remaining in Georgia.1 It puts the site at 662 feet (202 meters). The Georgia list says 687 feet, so the two sources disagree on elevation.1,2

The register accepted the tower on July 26, 2007, as US 705, GA 8, on a nomination by John Mayer.1

Neither source says who staffed the lookout or which fires it watched. I found no account of a closure, a move or a restoration, and no source saying whether visitors can climb it today. Check with the Oconee National Forest before any visit, and do not climb a tower that is closed or posted.

  1. Mathis Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ga/mathis-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Georgia lookout towers, tnlandforms.us, https://tnlandforms.us/gatowers.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mathis 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, what it is built of, 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. tnlandforms.us fire lookout towers (Tom Dunigan) -- GA, NC, TN Gave us: register numbers, links tnlandforms.us (Tom Dunigan) · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, county, elevation, NGS/GFC/BLL register cross-references, status where given). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. 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.