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Fire lookout · Wayne County, Tennessee

Waynesboro Lookout Tower

Wayne County, TN 45-ft Aermotor MC-39 on private land; NHLR-registered 2023 after a 2022 visit, but Tennessee Landforms marks it removed. Status unresolved.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. NHLR says the tower is on private property and privately owned; no public access is described

Status unknown: We do not know yet whether it still stands. NHLR describes a November 2022 site visit to a tower on private property; Tennessee Landforms marks it removed, undated. The sources conflict.

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
Status unknown sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower45' Aermotor MC-39The design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
972 ft (296 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry (administrator per NHLR)
Land
Unknown
Location
Wayne County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.34075, −87.80962
Registers
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-waynesboro

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 Condition assessmentListed among the extant towers as of March 26, 2014Source: npgallery.nps.gov
  2. 2022 Condition assessmentNHLR records a site visit dated 11/26/22 to a tower on private propertySource: nhlr.org
  3. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 9, 2023 as US 1762, TN 66; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
  4. TodayStatus unknownWe do not know whether it still stands.

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 Waynesboro Lookout Tower is a 45-foot Aermotor MC-39 in Wayne County.1 A National Register study notes that the MC-39's small landings were judged dangerous, and that the later LS-40 model was built with more substantial landings.2

The Register gives no build date, builder or fire record for this tower.1 It describes the tower as being on private property and lists the owners as private.1

The Register gives the registration date as August 9, 2023, with Jason Johns as nominator, under the number US 1762, TN 66. It also notes a site visit on November 26, 2022.1

A table of extant towers in the same National Register study, as of March 26, 2014, includes Waynesboro in Wayne County.2

Tennessee Landforms gives a different answer. Its table marks the Waynesboro tower as removed, with no date.3

The sources disagree about whether the tower still stands.1,3 The Register records a site visit in 2022 but does not describe the tower's condition, and the Landforms entry is undated, so we cannot tell which is newer.1,3 Treat its current status as unknown. Because the tower is on private land, check with the owner before going to look at it.1

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

Photos

Photo of Waynesboro 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • Firefinder research: Status unknown
    • NHLR: Standing
    • tnlandforms.us fire lookout towers (Tom Dunigan) -- GA, NC, TN: Gone

    Research (2026-10-09) gives unknown where the source records give standing. The page shows the researched status; please tell us if it is wrong.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  2. tnlandforms.us fire lookout towers (Tom Dunigan) -- GA, NC, TN 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
  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.