{"nrhp_refnum":"00000164","name":"Warren County Fire Tower","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"4.5 mi. S of Warrenton on NC 58 S","address_restricted":false,"city":"Liberia","county":"Warren County","state":"NC","lat":36.36100479800007,"lon":-78.08070191099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-03-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 100-foot steel fire lookout tower on a hill about 4.5 miles south of Warrenton on SR 58 South, near Liberia, Warren County, North Carolina, built in 1932 from Aermotor Company steel members.","why_significant":"It is the only fire tower in Warren County and was central to detecting and suppressing forest fires in a county without rural fire departments until 1956. It protected the local lumber and pulpwood economy and represents North Carolina's statewide fire tower program begun in the 1920s. It is also tied to Bessie Haithcock, the first woman fire tower operator in the state.","narrative":"Rising 100 feet from a forest clearing south of Warrenton, this steel fire tower was erected in 1932 on land leased from a local farm family. Its four-sided bolted truss frame, made of Aermotor Company members, carries eighty-eight steps to a seven-foot-square cab, where the original alidade, a surveying instrument for pinpointing fires, still stands. Earlie Haithcock and Albert Hardy assembled it, and Haithcock served as the first operator. After his death, his widow Bessie Haithcock trained and began work in 1945 as the first woman fire tower operator in North Carolina. In her first year she spotted a major fire near Vaughn that threatened hundreds of acres of timber. As the only fire tower in Warren County, it guarded the pulpwood and lumber industry and reflects the statewide tower program of the 1920s and 1930s. Operations ended in 1993, and the tower now serves as an educational exhibit. It was recognized for local conservation efforts from 1932 to 1950.","period_of_significance":"1932-1950","architect_builder":"Aermotor, Inc.","architectural_style":"Other","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Last used as a lookout in spring 1993; it now serves as an educational exhibit on the history of firefighting in Warren County, run by the Bessie Haithcock Forestry Headquarters.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:53.683167-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/38/7227/47722738/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/00000164.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722738","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_County_Fire_Tower","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22061119"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/warren-county/warren-county-fire-tower-00000164/"}