Fire lookout · Hardin County, Tennessee
Turkey Knob Lookout Tower
Hardin County, TN Aermotor LS-40 tower listed as standing; NHLR-registered in 2023 as US 1757, TN 61 and administered by the Tennessee Division of Forestry. No build date found.
- 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 towerAermotor LS-40The design: Aermotor LS-40
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- Unknown
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 680 ft (207 m)
- Agency
- Tennessee Division of Forestry (administrator per NHLR)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Hardin County, Tennessee
- Coordinates
- 35.03735, −88.23153
- Registers
- NHLR US 1757 · TN 61
- NGS FE 2249
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-tn-turkey-knob
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
- 2014 Condition assessmentListed among the extant towers as of March 26, 2014Source: npgallery.nps.gov
- 2020 Condition assessmentNHLR records a site visit dated 1/29/20Source: nhlr.org
- 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 7, 2023 as US 1757, TN 61; 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Turkey Knob Lookout Tower is in Hardin County, Tennessee.1 It is an Aermotor LS-40, a steel model that the Division of Forestry used widely until the mid-1970s.1,2
Neither source we read gives a build date, a builder, or any fire the tower watched, so those parts of its history are still unknown.1,2
The Register lists the Tennessee Division of Forestry as the tower's administrator. Jason Johns nominated it, and it was registered on August 7, 2023, as US 1757, TN 61.1 The Register also notes a site visit dated January 29, 2020.1
A table of extant towers in a National Register study, as of March 26, 2014, includes Turkey Knob.2 Tennessee Landforms lists the tower as standing.3
We found no information on whether the public may visit. Check with the Division of Forestry before you go.
- Turkey Knob Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/turkey-knob-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975, National Register of Historic Places multiple property form, NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64501237.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Tennessee Lookout Towers, Tennessee Landforms, https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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
- 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
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1757 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975 (National Register of Historic Places multiple property form (NPGallery)) (opens another site)
- Turkey Knob (tnlandforms.us (Tom Dunigan)) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.