French Mill, Alabama

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Athens census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35613. It stands on French Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Athens quadrangle.

French Mill within Limestone County

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 22 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1888 USGS Huntsville quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Huntsville quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
1935 USGS Athens quadrangle1:24000
1956 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Athens quadrangle1:24000
1958 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1963 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
1967 USGS Athens quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1984 USGS Huntsville quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings

Fires near this place

60 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 60 fires within 5 miles of French Mill between 1994 and 2020, burning about 328 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	30
Arson/incendiarism	7
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7
Smoking	4
Recreation and ceremony	3
Natural	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
29 September 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	20160929-7
21 September 2010	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
20 September 1997	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
19 September 2000	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
17 September 2006	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
17 September 2000	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
7 August 2007	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
3 August 2006	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Limestone County

Storms near this place

30 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names French Mill in 30 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 3 lightning, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2012	Lightning	French Mill	$5,000	Lightning sparked a fire on a roof of a home on Pepper Road at Bab Daly Road.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$5,000	Multiple trees were knocked down. One tree landed on top of a mobile home off Bledsoe Road.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$3,000	A few trees were downed by thunderstorm winds on Indian Trace Road in the Indian Trace Subdivision approximately two miles east-southeast of Athens.
January 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$1,000	A tree was knocked down on power lines.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$1,000	A tree was knocked down across the road on Pepper road west of Mooresville road at the bridge. Time was estimated from radar data.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$1,000	A tree was uprooted and loose construction equipment was blown around at this location.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$1,000	Large trees were knocked down in the Canebrake area on Lindsay Lane near the golf course.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	$1,000	Several trees were knocked down near the intersection of Nick Davis Road at Mooresville Road.
June 2011	Lightning	French Mill	$500	A home was struck by lightning on Menese road. Home did not catch fire.
July 2011	Lightning	French Mill	$500	A house was struck by lightning on Nick Davis Road and Forest Hill Drive.
May 2025	Hail	French Mill	-	Hail with a diamter up to 1.25 inches was reported via mPING.
March 2023	Flood	French Mill	-	Flooding caused damage to Line Road causing the road to close. Report from City of Athens Official.
June 2023	Hail	French Mill	-	Hail of 1.25 inches in diameter was reported.
June 2023	Hail	French Mill	-	One inch diameter hail was reported via mPING.
June 2023	Hail	French Mill	-	Hail of 1.25 inches in diameter was reported via mPING.
June 2023	Hail	French Mill	-	Hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter was reported.
December 2019	Hail	French Mill	-	One inch hail was reported via mPING.
December 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	-	An eight foot section of wooden fence was blown over and stripped off of support posts. This occurred off of Chadwick Drive near the French Mill Community. Time estimated by radar.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	-	Three 200 foot tall pine trees were snapped east of Athens. Reported via mPING. Time estimated by radar.
November 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	-	Trees and power lines were knocked down at the intersection of Newby Road and U.S. Highway 72.
September 2014	Flash Flood	French Mill	-	Flash flooding resulted from two feet of water reported over the road near an embankment at the intersection of Highway 72 and McCulley Mill road near French Mill, Alabama.
July 2013	Heavy Rain	French Mill	-	Water was over Mooresville Road. The depth was unknown at this time.
July 2011	Hail	French Mill	-	Quarter size hail was reported on Capshaw Road.
April 2011	Tornado (EF1)	French Mill	-	A tornado of EF-1 intensity produced peak wind speeds of up to 110 mph. The tornado touched down south of U.S. Highway 72 and west of County Road 95 in extreme eastern Limestone County, uprooting large hardwood trees prior to crossing Highway 72 near County Road 99A. The tornado tracked to the east-northeast crossing Capshaw Road near Old Railroad Bed Road before moving into Madison County.
June 2010	Hail	French Mill	-	Nickel sized hail was reported 3 miles southeast of Athens.
June 2010	Hail	French Mill	-	Quarter sized hail was reported 3 miles south of Athens.
August 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	French Mill	-	A roof was reported blown off at a residence in the Southern Breeze neighborhood. Numerous additional reports of trees down and fences knocked down down in this neighborhood. Powerlines were knocked down at the intersection of Mooresvile road.
April 2009	Hail	French Mill	-	Quarter sized hail was reported on McCully Mill Road.
June 2009	Hail	French Mill	-	Nickel sized hail was reported. The hail storm lasted up to 4 minutes.
July 2008	Flash Flood	French Mill	-	A slow moving severe thunderstorm dumped intense rainfall over portions of east central Limestone county. This produced widespread flash flooding in the Indian Trace Subdivision and in the Canebrake Subdivision.

Every storm recorded in Limestone County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Country Village	2.2 miles	22
Fairmount	2.5 miles	22
Peets Corner	2.5 miles	22
East Limestone	2.6 miles	21
Indian Trace	2.6 miles	22
Winslow	2.9 miles	22
Cottonwood	2.9 miles	22
Yorkshire	2.9 miles	22

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 156381. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.