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Fire lookout · Oconee County, South Carolina

Long Mountain Tower

Oconee County, SC tower in Sumter National Forest, built about 1935 for the Forest Service and NHLR-registered in 2013; current access not confirmed.

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. On Sumter National Forest land; no Forest Service page was checked for climbing or access. A 2020 blog writer entered the cab and found the tower open probably by mistake.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Off South Carolina Highway 107 in an isolated spot, per a 2020 blog; no official visit information found. Do not climb without Forest Service confirmation.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower54' Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7'x7' metal cab, low hip roof and atypical window configurationThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
54 ft (16.5 m)
Elevation
2,021 ft (616 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Oconee County, South Carolina
Coordinates
34.88083, −83.09861
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-sc-long-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 3.3 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. 1935 BuiltNHLR Built field gives 1935; description says built around 1935Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1935 and 2013
  3. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 27, 2013; nominated by Ron StaffordSource: 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.

Long Mountain Tower is in Oconee County, South Carolina, inside the Sumter National Forest.1 The National Historic Lookout Register dates the tower to around 1935. It is a 54-foot Aermotor LS-40 design with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab and a low hip roof.1 Its windows are arranged in an unusual pattern.1

The U.S. Forest Service administered the tower, and the register says the agency used it until the 1980s.1 The register does not name any lookout who worked there, and we found no account of a fire it spotted.1

The register gives the elevation as 2,021 feet, or 616 meters, and lists the tower as US 961, SC 15.1 It was added to the register on January 27, 2013, on the nomination of Ron Stafford.1

The newest report we found is a 2020 blog post.2 The writer entered the cab and says the tower was open "probably by mistake." The writer adds that many fire towers are not open.2 The sources we read do not say whether the tower may be climbed, so please do not climb it unless the Forest Service confirms it is open to visitors.1,2

  1. Long Mountain Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/sc/long-mountain-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Now, I'm Climbing Fire Towers! Long Mountain Tower, Cocoa Smiles, https://cocoasmiles.com/2020/03/25/now-im-climbing-fire-towers-long-mountain-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Long Mountain 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: height, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.