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Fire lookout · Sumter County, South Carolina

Timmonsville Tower

Aermotor LS-40 tower built in 1936 near Timmonsville, sold by the SC Forestry Commission in the late 1990s, and now re-erected on private land in Sumter County.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Owned by Billy McIntosh and re-erected on his property; the register says it is used as a hunting and wildlife observation spot, and no public access is described

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Type unknownAermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7x7 foot steel cab; reconstructed to 40 feet on its original concrete footings (formerly 100 feet)The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
218 ft (66 m)
Agency
South Carolina Forestry Commission (original owner; sold in the late 1990s)
Land
Unknown
Location
Sumter County, South Carolina
Coordinates
33.90696, −80.54166
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-sc-timmonsville

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 2.8 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 BuiltRegister gives 1936; Forest Lookouts newspaper items show equipment moved to the site in March 1936 and a CCC camp working on the site in April 1936Sources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1936 and 2013
  3. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 24, 2013 as US 970, SC 23; nominated by Michael T. Finch, Jr., FFLA Area RepSource: 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.

In September 1935 a Florence newspaper reported that the county was getting another steel fire tower, to be built near Timmonsville.1 By March 1936 Mrs. D.L. Anderson of Timmonsville had donated ten acres about two miles from town to the state forestry commission, and equipment for a 100-foot steel tower had reached the site.1 The National Historic Lookout Register dates the tower to 1936.2

The Register describes an Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab.2 It was once 100 feet tall and was later reconstructed to 40 feet on its original concrete footings.2,1 The Register does not say when that happened.2 The Forest Lookouts newspaper items show construction starting in March 1936, with a Civilian Conservation Corps camp finishing the site work.1 In April 1936 the paper expected that work to run until about July, so the towerman would not be named until later.1 Applicants had already come in for the job.1

In the late 1990s the Forestry Commission sold the tower to Billy McIntosh, who moved it to Sumter County, reconditioned it and re-erected it on his property.2 Forest Lookouts gives only an undated note that the tower was sold and moved to private land, marked 199??.1 The Commission closed its fire tower system on October 1, 1993, but a Post and Courier piece dates the end of the system to 1994.3,4

Today the Register places the tower in Sumter County, at an elevation of 218 feet, or 66 meters. The Register lists its current use as hunting and wildlife observation.2 The Register added it on February 24, 2013, as US 970, SC 23, on the nomination of Michael T. Finch, Jr.2 Because it sits on private land and we found no public access information, please ask the owner before visiting.2

  1. Timmonsville - Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/timmonsville.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Timmonsville Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/sc/timmonsville-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Pictures From Our Past, South Carolina Forestry Commission, https://www.scfc.gov/about-us/history/pictures-from-our-past/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. SCFC fire tower history, Post and Courier, https://www.postandcourier.com/kingstree/community-news/scfc-fire-tower-history/article_d68e50e7-379c-4e35-90bf-12f54f38e35b.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Timmonsville 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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, 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.