FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Wilkes County, North Carolina

Rendezvous Mountain Lookout

Wilkes County state educational forest tower; NHLR dates it to 1936, a 1934-36 state report describes a different steel tower; no longer used and unsafe to climb.

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. tower unsafe to climb per a 2023 Wilkes Record column; NHLR says the tower is now restricted for electronics use; no official closure notice was found

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
reached on foot on the state forest grounds; the cabin sits just below the tower; the tower itself is unsafe to climb
Staffing
Not staffed

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerNHLR describes a 50-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot cab; a 1934-36 state report quoted by Forest Lookouts gives a 59-foot-3-inch steel tower; a CCC-built cabin from the early 1930s stands just below the towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
59 ft (18.0 m)
Elevation
2,466 ft (752 m)
Agency
NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Land
State land
Location
Wilkes County, North Carolina
Coordinates
36.22729, −81.29319
Registers
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nc-rendezvous-mountain

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. 1934 Eventa 1934-36 state biennial report, quoted by Forest Lookouts, says the CCC erected a 59-foot-3-inch steel tower in October 1934; the register and newspaper date the tower to 1936Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 BuiltNHLR says the North Carolina Forest Service constructed the 50-foot Aermotor tower in 1936; the Journal-Patriot says the tower was constructed in 1936Sources: nhlr.org, journalpatriot.com
  3. No record between 1936 and 1952
  4. 1952 Staffed1950-52 state report: the Division of Forestry maintained and operated the lookout tower and towerman's residenceSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1952 and 2008
  6. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNational Historic Lookout Register registration date April 2, 2008Source: nhlr.org
  7. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Rendezvous Mountain lookout sits in the state educational forest of the same name in Wilkes County.1 The register dates its 50-foot Aermotor tower and 7-by-7-foot cab to 1936, when the North Carolina Forest Service put it up.1 A local newspaper gives the same year, and a cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s stands nearby.2

A state biennial report covering 1934–36, as quoted by the Forest Lookouts site, says the Civilian Conservation Corps erected a 59-foot-3-inch steel tower in October 1934.3 The register and the newspaper both give 1936, so the sources conflict on both the date and the tower's description.1,2

A 1950–52 state report says the Division of Forestry maintained and operated the tower and a towerman's residence on the site.3 The register lists the lookout as registered on April 2, 2008.1

The Wilkes Journal-Patriot reports that the tower is no longer used.2 A 2023 Wilkes Record column describes it as still standing but unsafe to climb.4 The register notes that the tower is now restricted for electronics use.1

A rustic cabin sits just below the tower, where the people who manned it lived when they were off duty.4 A 2023 column says a visiting party, led by a staff guide, got inside the cabin to look at old photos of the men who worked there.4 The Forest Lookouts site gives the 1934 tower's height as 59 feet and 3 inches, while the register gives 50 feet for its Aermotor tower, so the height is still in question.3,1

  1. Rendezvous Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nc/rendezvous-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rendezvous Mountain's 'forest water', Wilkes Journal-Patriot, https://www.journalpatriot.com/news/rendezvous-mountains-forest-water/article_e23822de-a16e-5f02-83fc-2bf5858af1cf.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rendezvous Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/rendezvous-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Rendezvous Mountain, The Wilkes Record, https://thewilkesrecord.com/rendezvous-mountain-p7492-149.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rendezvous Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, ownership, 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
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.