FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lauderdale County, Tennessee

Open Lake Lookout Tower

Lauderdale County, TN tower administered by the Tennessee Division of Forestry; 80 ft Aermotor registered 2023, listed as standing but in very rough condition; thin record.

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
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80ft Aermotor tower with a parallel internal staircaseThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
450 ft (137 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Lauderdale County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.76033, −89.66906
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-open-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 3.3 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. 1964 EventRegister's removal field reads 'after 1964' with no removal date; the tower's manufacture is dated to after 1964 from a name badge, not a removalSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1964 Removed'Removed' field on NHLR detail page: "after 1964".Source: NHLR register entry
  3. No record between 1964 and 2023
  4. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 1, 2023 on the National Historic Lookout Register (US 1715, TN 48)Source: nhlr.org
  5. 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 Open Lake Lookout Tower stands in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, and the Tennessee Division of Forestry is listed as its administrator.1 The register entry is clear about the tower itself but says little about its past.1

The tower is an 80-foot Aermotor with a parallel internal staircase.1 The register gives the site an elevation of 450 feet, or 137 meters, while the Tennessee list gives 460 feet.1,2

A name badge on the tower mentions Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, so the register dates its manufacture to sometime after 1964.1 A separate removal note in the register is dated only as after 1964, and it does not say what was taken down or from where.1

We found no record of who built the tower, who staffed it, or which fires it watched.

The Tennessee list marks the tower as standing.2 The register describes it as being in very rough condition, and it was registered on January 1, 2023.1 The Tennessee list also reports that many towers have been taken down and that most of the state's lookout sites are now on private land.2 It advises against climbing the towers, since steps are often removed or rotten.2

Today we found no public access information and no rental listing for Open Lake. Ask the Tennessee Division of Forestry before going near it, and do not climb it.2

  1. Open Lake Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/open-lake-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tennessee Lookout Towers, tnlandforms.us, https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Open Lake Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Open Lake Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Open Lake Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Open Lake Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Open Lake Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Open Lake 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, type, 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: 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, 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.