Little Snowball Fire Tower

8/24/2013

This tower was once located on top of Little Snowball Mountain, but has since been deconstructed and rebuilt in Big Ivy, NC. It's the only tower that doesn't require a hike (it's in the middle of the community park) for completion of the Lookout Tower Challenge. If you are interested in seeing this little guy, google map Big Ivy Community Center and it's right there. I drove past it on a few adventures not even realizing it was right there.

Tower number 17 of 24 for me!

4 Comments

Bill Randolph link

9/14/2013 02:48:48 pm

Hello,
just browsing around on the computer tonight. Loved finding your website! Worked at the old Spruce Pine firetower in Mitchell County, N.C. for 3 fire seasons. Sadly, most old towers are no longer in use- as there is very little wild, open land left to watch. Grew up in Bryson City, N.C., but now live in Charlotte, N.C. MISS the mountains VERY much- don't intend on spending rest of my life here in the city. Little Snowball tower- near Craggy Gardens?? Be in touch! e-mail address billcr26@gmail.com (704)392-1825 My name is Bill Randolph.

Bill Randolph

3/3/2017 07:37:07 pm

Annie Long

7/7/2021 09:13:34 am

Is the above mountain top a photo of the original site of the Snowball tower? Thought you might like to know about this book. https://pagesofjulia.com/2021/07/07/above-the-smoke-a-family-album-of-pocahontas-county-fire-towers-by-leanna-alderman-and-eleanor-mahoney/

Alton L Bradley

10/8/2021 04:58:20 pm

Many, many years ago (around 1976 or so), myself and a group of my friends who grew up in nearby Beech Community decided we would pack enough provisions for a summer weekend hike and trip to the Little Snowball fire tower. We only had vague directions, and started at the Beech Community store, headed up to the end of Blackberry Inn rd. We then went straight up (and I mean STRAIGHT UP) through a meadow to the crest of the ridge and turned left. It was getting dark, so we found shelter at a large rock overhang for the night. We built a fire, and cooked our dinner, telling the usual tall tales and scary stories. We didn't get much sleep, as each noise from the dark woods invoked images of bears, mountain lions or worse. At first light, we headed out, only to realize that in another 30 minutes, we would have arrived at our objective. The tower was intact: the table used for direction finding, distances and map were all in place. Thankfully, we now had a roof over our heads and slept much better the next couple of nights. We badly underestimated our food consumption, and were running very low on day 3. Fortunately, my Uncle Larry and has faithful sidekick Smiley (Junior) Martin showed up with food and drink! What a sight! We also got a ride back home with Uncle Larry, sparing us the long hike back down. The last keeper of the tower had left the logbook, so fearing that it would be destroyed, I appropriated it for posterity's sake and turned it over to my Dad, where it rests to this day. This was one of the best memories of my life, growing up in an era that is gone forever.

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Little Snowball Fire Tower

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