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Fire lookout · McNairy County, Tennessee

Mt. Peter Lookout Tower

Mt. Peter is a standing 80-ft Aermotor LS-40 tower in McNairy County, TN, linked to the TN Division of Forestry; build date and ownership unresolved.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Ownership disputed: NHLR names TDF as administrator but its details also read 'Privately Owned'; the nominator believes it is private and unmarked. Editorial advice, not stated in the record: treat as private and do not climb until ownership is confirmed.

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
Cab on a tower80-ft Aermotor LS-40The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
Unknown
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
691 ft (211 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
McNairy County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.28806, −88.53431
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-mt-peter

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. 2014 EventListed as extant (standing) in the Tennessee Division of Forestry fire tower study, as of March 26, 2014.Source: npgallery.nps.gov
  2. 2023 AlteredVisitor report from the 8/5/23 site visit says the stair treads had recently been replaced.Source: nhlr.org
  3. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on August 6, 2023 as US 1753, TN 57.Source: 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.

Mt. Peter is a fire lookout in McNairy County, Tennessee, and the Tennessee Division of Forestry is named as its administrator 1. The registry describes the tower as an 80-foot Aermotor LS-40 1. The agency favored this model above all others, and it stayed in service there until the mid-1970s 2.

I found no build date for this tower in the sources I checked 1,3. The agency raised many of its lookouts in the 1930s, working with the Civilian Conservation Corps 2. The LS-40's cab is steel and about 7 feet on each side 2. The sources I read say nothing about who staffed the tower or about any fires it watched 1,3,2.

A National Register study of the state forestry agency's towers lists Mt Peter as extant as of March 26, 2014 2. The Tennessee Landforms list also marks it as standing 3. The registry entry dates from August 6, 2023 1, and its visit notes say the stair treads were recently swapped out 1.

The sources disagree about who owns the land 1. The registry names the forestry agency as administrator, but its details also read "Privately Owned" 1. The entry's writer believes the site is privately owned, though it carries no marking to say so 1. The record gives no public access route, and ownership is still unresolved 1. Until ownership is confirmed, treat the site as private and do not climb it.

  1. Mt. Peter Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/mt-peter-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975, National Park Service, 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 Mt. Peter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mt. Peter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mt. Peter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mt. Peter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mt. Peter Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Mt. Peter Lookout 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, 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, 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, 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.