FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Swain County, North Carolina

Shuckstack Tower

1934 steel fire tower in the Great Smokies, built by the PWA and NPS; in poor shape in 2013, with restoration plans since 2007 and unclear results.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Wikipedia says the tower is accessible to the public. A January 2013 article described rusting bolts, rotting floor planks and missing guardrails. No current park notice found.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by the Appalachian Trail and a short spur trail that is about 3.5 miles from the parking lot on the north side of Fontana Dam; Wikipedia calls the hike strenuous.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,020 ft (1,225 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Swain County, North Carolina
Coordinates
35.48560, −83.81508
Registers
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nc-shuckstack

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 3.2 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 BuiltRegister: built by the Public Works Administration and the National Park ServiceSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 2007
  3. 2007 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 19, 2007; nominated by Peter BarrSource: nhlr.org
  4. 2009 Condition assessmentGroup hike to visit the tower and evaluate its condition; chapter report says over $700 was raised for restorationSource: firelookout.org
  5. 2012 EventSevere vandalism over the past year, as reported in a January 2013 articleSource: casite-498466.cloudaccess.net
  6. 2013 Condition assessmentArticle describes rusting bolts, rotting floor planks, broken windowpanes and missing guardrails; about $4,000 held for repairsSource: casite-498466.cloudaccess.net
  7. 2015 RestoredChapter report lists the tower as rehabilitated; its 2016 goals still planned an announcement for the restorationSource: firelookout.org
  8. 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.

Shuckstack's fire tower went up in 1934. The National Historic Lookout Register says the Public Works Administration and the National Park Service built it that year, as a steel Aermotor tower about 60 feet tall with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab.1,2 The tower was used to spot wildfires, and later it became a radio repeater site.2 The summit also has remains of an old fire watchman's cabin: a chimney, a foundation and a cistern.3

The register added the tower in 2007, with Peter Barr as its nominator.1 Barr, director of the North Carolina chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, took on its cause.2 In 2008 the chapter was raising money and seeking a cost-share partnership with the Park Service for the restoration.4 In 2009 a group hike went up to the tower to inspect it and judge its state, and the chapter's report that year says it had raised over $700 for the restoration.5

By January 2013 the tower was in poor shape. An article from that month described rusting bolts, rotting floor planks and shattered windows, and it said some guardrails had gone missing. It also described serious vandalism during the previous year.2 About $4,000 was on deposit for the tower's restoration and repair.2

The chapter's 2015 report lists the tower as rehabilitated, but its goals for 2016 still included planning an announcement for the restoration.6 I could not find a park statement that settles how much work was done.

The park once had 11 towers, and seven were demolished in the 1980s. One of the four that remained had since been shut to visitors, according to that 2013 article.2 Wikipedia says the tower has been retired from service but people may still visit it.3 The summit is reached by the Appalachian Trail and a short spur trail about 3.5 miles from the parking area on the north side of Fontana Dam, and Wikipedia calls the hike strenuous.3 Because of the damage reported in 2013, check the tower's condition before you climb.

  1. Shuckstack Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nc/shuckstack-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Saving Shuckstack: Age, weather and vandalism take their toll on Smokies’ firetower, Holly Kays (archived copy), https://casite-498466.cloudaccess.net/archives/item/9597-saving-shuckstack-age-weather-and-vandalism-take-their-toll-on-smokies%E2%80%99-firetower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Shuckstack, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuckstack (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. North Carolina chapter report 2008, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nc-2008.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. North Carolina chapter report 2009, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nc-2009.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. North Carolina chapter report 2015, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nc-2015.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Shuckstack 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · 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, 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.