Fire lookout · Carroll County, Tennessee
Maple Lake Fire Tower
Also known as Maple Creek
90-foot Aermotor tower in Natchez Trace State Forest, Carroll County, TN; built after 1964 by inference; listed as standing; NHLR calls it Maple Lake, state lists Maple Creek.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower90-foot Aermotor tower; name badge removed, outline points to the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma eraThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1964
- Height
- 90 ft (27.4 m)
- Elevation
- 726 ft (221 m)
- Agency
- Tennessee Division of Forestry
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Carroll County, Tennessee
- Coordinates
- 35.85557, −88.23786
- Registers
- NHLR US 1717 · TN 50
- NGS FE 2217
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-tn-maple-lake
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
- 1964 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1964 EventLower bound only: NHLR says built after 1964, inferred from the outline of the removed Aermotor badge; no firm build yearSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1964 and 2014
- 2014 EventListed as extant as of March 26, 2014, under the name Maple CreekSource: npgallery.nps.gov
- 2023 Condition assessmentNHLR site visit January 28, 2023Source: nhlr.org
- 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 30, 2023; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Maple Lake Fire Tower stands in the Natchez Trace State Forest, in Carroll County, Tennessee.1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 90-foot Aermotor tower.1 The Register does not give an exact build year.1
It estimates that the tower went up after 1964.1 That estimate comes from the outline of the Aermotor name badge, which has been removed. The outline points to the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma era.1 Treat 1964 as a lower bound, not as the build year.1
The Register uses the name Maple Lake.1 Tennessee Landforms and a 2014 state list both use the name Maple Creek for a Carroll County tower.2,3 OpenStreetMap places a Maple Creek lookout tower within a few meters of the Register's coordinates, so the two names appear to refer to one tower.1,4
The sources we read do not say who staffed the tower or whether it saw notable fires.
A list of towers still standing as of March 26, 2014 includes Maple Creek in Carroll County.2 Tennessee Landforms marks it as standing and numbers it 8-10, which means district 8, tower 10.3 The Register visited the site on January 28, 2023, and registered it on January 30, 2023.1
The sources do not say whether the public can visit or climb the tower. The Register lists the Tennessee Division of Forestry as the tower's administrator, so check with the Division before going.1 Please do not climb it.
- Maple Lake Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/maple-lake-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975, National Park Service National Register multiple property listing, https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64501237.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Tennessee Lookout Towers, Tennessee Landforms, https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Node: Maple Creek Lookout Tower (356895226), OpenStreetMap, https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/356895226 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- tnlandforms.us fire lookout towers (Tom Dunigan) -- GA, NC, TN (opens another site) 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1717 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975 (National Park Service NPGallery) (opens another site)
- Maple Creek (tnlandforms.us (Tom Dunigan)) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 356895226 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.