Savannah Lookout Tower: fire lookout in Tennessee

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 tower60-foot International Derrick towerThe design: IDECO
Built of: SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built: Unknown
Height: Unknown
Elevation: 774 ft (236 m)
Agency: Tennessee Division of Forestry
Land: Unknown
Location: Hardin County, Tennessee
Coordinates: 35.14587, −88.14173
Registers: NHLR US 1768 · TN 70
This entry: VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id: us-tn-savannah

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

2023 Condition assessmentNHLR site visit dated 11/25/23 records the cab missing its roof and windowsSource: nhlr.org
2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 16, 2023 as US 1768, TN 70; 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 Savannah Lookout Tower stands in Hardin County, Tennessee, and the National Historic Lookout Register lists it as US 1768, TN 70.¹ The Register gives the site elevation as 774 feet.¹ A Tennessee Landforms list places a Hardin County tower called Bee Rock at 784 feet.² Forest Lookouts also lists a Bee Rock tower in Hardin County.³ None of these sources says outright that Bee Rock and Savannah are one structure. The shared county and the elevations, 10 feet apart, make it plausible but unconfirmed.

The Register describes it as a 60-foot International Derrick tower.¹ A National Register study of Tennessee Division of Forestry lookout towers says the International Derrick Model 1933 and the Aermotor MC-39 were close to identical.⁴ No source we read says why the tower was put on this site.

The Register lists the build date as unknown.¹ The same study says most of the division's towers went up between the late 1940s and about 1960.⁴ That is a statewide pattern, not a record for this tower, so we have no build year for it.

None of the sources we read names who staffed the tower or which fires it watched.

The Register's site visit of November 25, 2023 found the cab without a roof or windows.¹ Tennessee Landforms, which has no Savannah entry, lists the Bee Rock tower as standing.²

The Register names the Tennessee Division of Forestry as the agency that administers the tower.¹ The sources do not say whether the public may visit or climb it. Ask the division before going to the site, and do not climb the tower unless it is open to visitors.

Savannah Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/savannah-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Tennessee Lookout Towers, Tennessee Landforms (tnlandforms.us), https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Bee Rock, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bee-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, National Register of Historic Places multiple property document, National Park Service (npgallery.nps.gov), https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64501237.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Savannah Lookout Tower — Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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, 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
FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) 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
Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.