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Fire lookout · Trigg County, Kentucky

Wildland #2 Tower Site

Wildland #2 tower built 1937 by the CCC for the Kentucky Division of Forestry; moved near US 68/KY 80 around 1964 and still stands there as the Bald Knob Tower.

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Original site is gone; the tower was moved around 1964 and still stands at its new location on US 68/KY 80 (FFLOS); NHLR says the U.S. Forest Service owns it

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
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with a 7'x7' metal cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1937
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
610 ft (186 m)
Agency
Kentucky Division of Forestry (original); U.S. Forest Service (now, per NHLR)
Land
Unknown
Location
Trigg County, Kentucky
Coordinates
36.82528, −88.03000
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ky-wildland-2

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.1 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. 1937 BuiltBuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the Kentucky Division of Forestry as the Wildland #2 TowerSources: firetower.org, nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1937 and 1964
  3. 1964 MovedMoved along US 68/KY 80 around 1964; FFLOS gives 1964 as the removal date from the original site; NHLR's Built field also gives 1964Sources: firetower.org, nhlr.org
  4. 1964 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1964".Source: FFLOS register entry
  5. No record between 1964 and 2009
  6. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered as the Bald Knob Tower, US 831, KY 7, nominated by Trenton C. GirardSource: nhlr.org
  7. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterOriginal site registered as Wildland #2 Tower Site, US 1744, KY 5, nominated by Trenton GirardSource: firetower.org
  8. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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 Civilian Conservation Corps built the Wildland #2 Tower in 1937 for the Kentucky Division of Forestry.1,2 It was an 80-foot Aermotor LS-40.1,2 Its first site was in the Kentucky Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge, an area that is now inside the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.1,2

The original spot was hard to reach, and the site had difficulties with road access and staff.1,2 Around 1964 the tower was moved to a site along US 68 and KY 80.1 Clarence Gray, from the Division of Forestry, worked on the crew that moved it.1

The dates disagree in one place. The National Historic Lookout Register lists 1964 in its Built field, but its own description and the Former Fire Lookout Sites record both give 1937 as the build year.2,1 We take 1937 as the build year and 1964 as the move.1,2

The National Historic Lookout Register registered the tower on November 3, 2009, nominated by Trenton C. Girard.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register added the original site on March 15, 2019, on the nomination of Trenton Girard.1

Today it stands at the new site under the name Bald Knob Tower.1 The National Historic Lookout Register says the U.S. Forest Service now owns it.2 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the original site. Nor did we find one that says whether the public may climb the relocated tower, so check with Land Between the Lakes staff before you go.

  1. Wildland #2 Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ky/wildland-2-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Bald Knob Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ky/bald-knob-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

2009 photo
2009 photo (2009)Photo: Trenton Girard, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, status, register numbers, agency, 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. 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.