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Fire lookout · Madison County, Tennessee

Liberty Lookout Tower (1)

Also known as Liberty

Madison County, TN tower (NHLR US 1754, TN 58), an 80-foot Aermotor LS-40; in very rough condition at its 2023 visit; no build date or staffing found.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. NHLR Cooperators field lists the site as privately owned; NHLR 2023 visitor believed the site is privately owned; no public access 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?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
NHLR 2023 visit: all stair treads and landings removed. The Register gives no climbing instruction; do-not-climb is the editor's recommendation.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor LS-40 towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
598 ft (182 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry (administrator per NHLR); NHLR Cooperators field lists the site as privately owned
Land
Unknown
Location
Madison County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.64883, −88.64821
Registers
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-liberty-1

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. 2023 Condition assessmentNHLR site visit 8/5/23 found the tower in very rough condition with stair treads and landings removedSource: nhlr.org
  2. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 7, 2023 as US 1754, TN 58Source: nhlr.org
  3. 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 Liberty Lookout Tower (1) stands in Madison County, Tennessee.1 The National Historic Lookout Register lists it as US 1754, TN 58 and describes it as an 80-foot Aermotor LS-40.1 A state nomination of Tennessee's fire towers says that model was a common choice for the Division of Forestry until the mid-1970s.2

The sources we read do not give a construction date, name a builder, or say who staffed the tower or which fires it watched.1,3

The Register's entry comes from a site visit on August 5, 2023.1 The visitor described the tower as being in rough shape.1 The Register names the Division of Forestry as administrator. Its cooperators field lists the site as privately owned, and the visitor wrote that they believed the site was private.1 Tennessee Landforms marks the tower as standing and gives its elevation as 588 feet.3 The Register gives 598 feet.1 A 2014 table of surviving Tennessee fire towers in the state nomination does not include a Liberty entry.2

With all stair treads and landings removed, we would not climb it.1 Both the cooperators field and the visitor's note say the site is private, but we found no confirmation from the owner or the Division, so check with the landowner before going near it.

  1. Liberty Lookout Tower (1), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/liberty-lookout-tower-1/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers multiple property nomination, National Register of Historic Places, https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64501237.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Tennessee Lookout Towers, Tennessee Landforms, https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Liberty Lookout Tower (1)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Liberty Lookout Tower (1)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Liberty Lookout Tower (1)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Liberty Lookout Tower (1)
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, what it is built of, 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: type, 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. 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.