FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Carroll County, Tennessee

Leach Fire Tower

An 80-ft Aermotor LS-40 steel lookout built in 1957 near Cedar Grove, Carroll County, Tennessee; manned until the 1970s and now on an active state forestry site.

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 an active Tennessee Division of Forestry site; no source describes public access. Forestry staff occasionally climb it for maintenance checks.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of mid-1970s)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS-40 standard design; 80-ft bolted steel truss tower with 7 x 7 ft enclosed square cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1957
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
613 ft (187 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Carroll County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.91310, −88.48026
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-leach

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 3.1 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. 1957 BuiltConstructed by an unknown entity; Aermotor LS-40 standard designSource: npgallery.nps.gov
  2. No record between 1957 and 1975
  3. 1975 Last staffedConstant manning ended in the mid-1970s, when spotter planes and 911 reports replaced lookout watch; the nomination gives no exact yearSource: npgallery.nps.gov
  4. No record between 1975 and 2012
  5. 2012 EventModern radio tower about 165 ft north, licensed to the state forestry radio division; the nomination photo is dated ca. 2012Source: npgallery.nps.gov
  6. 2017 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesListed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933-1975Source: npgallery.nps.gov
  7. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered February 2, 2023 as US 1721, TN 54; site visit January 29, 2023Source: nhlr.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.

The Leach Fire Lookout Tower stands on Leach Road, near the unincorporated community of Cedar Grove in Carroll County, West Tennessee.1,2

It is an 80-foot, bolted steel truss tower of the Aermotor LS-40 standard design, topped by a square cab about seven feet on each side.1,2 Windows wrap the cab on every side, so the view runs all the way around.1 The National Register nomination dates the tower to 1957 but does not name who built it.1

Until the 1970s, the tower was used to spot fires during high-fire season and was staffed around the clock.1 From the mid-1970s, forestry staff leaned more on spotting planes and 911 reports, and the tower stopped being used for lookout watch.1 Tennessee's fire lookout towers were largely abandoned around then in favor of other methods.1

The tower has changed little since; the nomination notes only two modern sheds added. About 165 feet north, a modern radio tower stands behind a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire; it is licensed to the state forestry radio division.1 Forestry staff occasionally go up the tower for maintenance checks.1

The nomination treats the tower as state property: a deed clause says the structures stay with the state even if the site is abandoned.1 The Tennessee Division of Forestry administers the site.1,2 The National Register listed the tower in November 2017 as part of the division's fire lookout group, covering 1933 to 1975.1 The National Historic Lookout Register followed in February 2023, after a site visit that January.2

The register describes the site as an active state forestry site. It also notes that the original Aermotor badge is gone, though its outline can still be seen.2 No source says whether the public may visit. Check with the Tennessee Division of Forestry before going, and do not climb the tower without permission.1,2

  1. Leach Fire Lookout Tower, National Register of Historic Places nomination form (NRIS 100001821), National Park Service, https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/41df9903-ff78-43ee-8df7-77c83927901a (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Leach Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/leach-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Leach Fire 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, type, 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. 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 LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: 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
  4. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, dates, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, staffing, 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

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