With its cool summer climate, beautiful azaleas, and panoramic views, Wayah Bald attracted visitors for centuries. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, groups camped there, sometimes as annual social gatherings, and coed camping under chaperones became a favorite summertime outing for Franklin's young people and their guests from the cities. During summers when many people camped on Wayah Bald, Sunday worship services were held there, and in 1886 Presbyterian minister Mr. Sample prepared to preach to a group on the bald. Beginning in the 1920s, the U.S. Forest Service used Wayah Bald as a fire lookout, moving a cabin there in 1927 to take advantage of the superior view for detecting wildfires and erecting a wooden fire tower about 1929 with chestnut lumber and locust posts supporting a 12 x 12-foot observation cab. In 1934, men from the Civilian Conservation Corps improved the road to Wayah Bald as part of efforts during the Great Depression to provide employment for young men, and seven CCC camps were eventually established on the Nantahala National Forest. In 1935, the CCC began building a new lookout tower of quarry stone with a wooden roof of oak shakes, and the 53-foot structure opened to the public on September 6, 1937, dedicated to the memory of former Nantahala National Forest Supervisor Mr. John B. Byrne. Visitors climbed an oak staircase to the second floor to look out from twelve windows, and more than 9,000 people signed the guest registration book in 1937. The third floor housed fire detection equipment and living quarters for towermen, with two drop-down beds, a wood stove for heat and cooking, weekly deliveries of food, water, and mail from the CCC camp, a telephone for reporting fires, and a radio for entertainment, and the lookout men could remain on duty there for as long as two months at a time. After a few years, hairline cracks in the quarry stone let water seep in and damage parts of the tower, and with other fire lookouts in the area its use was discontinued in 1945. For safety reasons, the Forest Service removed the tower's upper levels in 1947 and poured a concrete slab on top so people could continue enjoying the panoramic views. In 1983, the Forest Service reconstructed the upper portion of the landmark, with employees hired under the Older American Program replacing old mortar and Wayah District personnel building a new roof of hemlock beams and cedar shakes to replicate the original design and preserve the tower's historical integrity. Each year thousands of people continue to enjoy the surrounding mountain views from the John B. Byrne Memorial Tower.