FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Chester County, South Carolina

Leeds Tower

100-foot Aermotor LS-40 Forest Service lookout on the Sumter National Forest in Chester County, SC; in Forest Service use until 1989.

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 tower100-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab and low hip roofThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
657 ft (200 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chester County, South Carolina
Coordinates
34.67417, −81.41472
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-sc-leeds

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. 1936 BuiltNHLR build year; the description says built around 1936Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1936 and 1989
  3. 1989 EventUsed by the Forest Service until 1989, per the RegisterSource: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1989 and 2013
  5. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 27, 2013 as US 959, SC 13; nominated by Ron StaffordSource: nhlr.org
  6. 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 Leeds Tower is in Chester County, South Carolina, on the Sumter National Forest.1,2 The U.S. Forest Service administers it.1

The National Historic Lookout Register dates the tower to about 1936.1 It describes a 100-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab and a low hip roof, and says the Forest Service used it until 1989.1 The Register gives the elevation as 657 feet (200 meters), and lists the Enoree Ranger District as a cooperator.1

Ron Stafford nominated the tower. The Register registered it on January 27, 2013, as US 959, SC 13.1

The sources read here do not name anyone who staffed the tower, describe the fires it watched, or say whether it still stands. We have not confirmed its current condition. Nothing read says whether the public can reach or climb it, so check with the Forest Service before planning any visit.1,2

  1. Leeds Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/sc/leeds-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Leeds, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/leeds.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Leeds Tower
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, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: type, 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, 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.