FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Berkeley County, South Carolina

Witherbee Lookout

Berkeley County, SC tower first erected in the 1930s at Bethera, moved to Witherbee in 1952 and used by the Forest Service until 1989; a news story says it still stands.

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. Tower sits on a Forest Service site (Witherbee station); no public access listing found

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No public visit route found; the tower stands on a Forest Service site, so ask the Francis Marion ranger district before going
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1989)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100' LS-40 Aermotor steel tower with 7' x 7' metal cab; original design and materials retainedThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
66 ft (20 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Berkeley County, South Carolina
Coordinates
33.16194, −79.82917
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-sc-witherbee

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. 1930 BuiltOriginally erected on the Bethera tower site with a ground house in the 1930s; 1930 is a placeholder for that decadeSources: nhlr.org, firefighternation.com
  2. No record between 1930 and 1952
  3. 1952 MovedMoved from the Bethera site to the Witherbee ranger station (register) or district office (news story)Sources: nhlr.org, firefighternation.com, firetower.org
  4. No record between 1952 and 1989
  5. 1989 Last staffedUsed by the Forest Service actively until 1989Sources: nhlr.org, firefighternation.com
  6. 1998 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 1, 1998Source: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1998 and 2024
  8. 2024 EventForest Service decision signed 04/22/2024 to demolish two administrative buildings at the Witherbee station; the project summary does not mention the towerSource: fs.usda.gov
  9. 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 Witherbee lookout is a 100-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab, in Berkeley County near Cordesville, South Carolina.1,2

The register says the tower first stood at the Bethera site, with a ground house, in the 1930s, and went to the Witherbee Ranger Station in the Francis Marion National Forest in 1952.1 A Former Fire Lookout Sites entry for Bethera says the tower was moved to Witherbee in 1952 and that only the footers are left there.3 The news story calls the 1952 location the Witherbee Ranger District Office, so the two sources name it differently but appear to describe the same place.1,2

The Forest Service used the tower actively until 1989.1,2 The register says few lookouts of this kind survive from South Carolina's former network, and that this one keeps its original design and materials.1 It was added to the register on December 1, 1998.1

A news story, which our copy shows without a date, says a Forest Service archaeologist unlocked a trap door into the enclosed cab. Inside, he found a dusty book of maps for marking fire locations and a pair of binoculars, and he took them back to his office.2 The same story says the tower is still standing and recommended for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.2

We found no report on the tower's condition after that story. A 2024 Forest Service decision covered the demolition of two administrative buildings at the Witherbee station, and its project summary does not mention the tower.4

The tower is at the Witherbee station, a Forest Service site, and we found no public visit route.1,4 Please do not climb it. The Francis Marion Ranger District leads this project, so ask it before going near the station.4

  1. Witherbee Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/sc/witherbee-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. S.C. Archaeologist Calls for Preservation of Fire Lookout Towers, Firefighter Nation, https://www.firefighternation.com/fire-leadership/s-c-archaeologist-calls-for-preservation-of-fire-lookout-towers/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bethera Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/sc/bethera-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Witherbee Multi Site Demolition, USDA Forest Service Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/francismarionsumter/projects/64782 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Witherbee Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Witherbee Lookout
Photo: Ron Stafford, via 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, 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: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.