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Fire lookout · Sequatchie County, Tennessee

Wolfpen Mountain (Cagle) Lookout

Also known as Wolfpen Mountain, Wolf Pen

Wolfpen Mountain (Cagle) in Sequatchie County: the state's first fire tower site, a ca. 1933 CCC tower, then a steel Aeromotor LS-40 that stands today; sources disagree on height.

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAeromotor LS-40 steel-frame towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,252 ft (686 m)
Agency
Tennessee Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Sequatchie County, Tennessee
Coordinates
35.48563, −85.46977
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-tn-wolfpen-mountain-cagle

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

  1. 1933 BuiltCa. 1933 wood-frame Cagle tower built by the CCC; the Division's first fire tower per the National Register studySource: npgallery.nps.gov
  2. No record between 1933 and 2006
  3. 2006 Condition assessmentVisit report: cab locked; tower sign allowed visitors to climb at own risk; staffed only sometimesSource: nhlr.org
  4. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 3, 2015 as US 1077, TN 19; nominated by Jerry LutesSource: 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Wolfpen Mountain in Sequatchie County is the site the Register calls the first fire tower in Tennessee, and it says the site is also known as Cagle Tower.1 Tennessee Landforms gives the same account, naming Cagle as the state's first fire tower.2

A National Register study of the Division of Forestry's towers reports the Division's own account: its first fire tower was a wood-frame structure of about 1933 that stood atop Wolfpen Mountain and is no longer standing.3 The study says the Civilian Conservation Corps built it in the early 1930s and that it stood 50 feet tall.3 The Register gives its height as 60 feet, with an 8-by-8-foot cab and a catwalk.1

The study says the first tower was later torn down and succeeded by an Aeromotor LS-40, and that the date of that change is unknown.3 The Register dates that replacement to the 1930s and calls the 80-foot Aermotor still in place lightly maintained.1 A 2006 visit report calls the current tower a 100-foot Standard Aermotor, so the sources do not agree on its height.1

The Register lists the tower as registered on January 3, 2015, with Jerry Lutes as nominator.1 Tennessee Landforms lists the tower as standing.2

A 2006 visit report says the cab was locked, that a tower sign allowed visitors to climb at their own risk, and that the tower was staffed sometimes.1 It also notes a paved road to the tower.1 I found no sources naming who staffed the tower or which fires it watched. That report is from 2006, and I found no newer access rule, so check with the Division of Forestry before going, and do not climb the cab without permission.

  1. Wolfpen Mountain (Cagle) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/tn/wolfpen-mountain-cagle-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Tennessee Lookout Towers, Tennessee Landforms (tnlandforms.us), https://tnlandforms.us/towers/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Tennessee Division of Forestry Fire Lookout Towers, 1933 to 1975, National Register multiple property document (npgallery.nps.gov), https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/64501237.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

TNLandForms.us photo
TNLandForms.us photoPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, register numbers, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: agency, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, visiting details, 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.