Royal, Alabama
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Brooksville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35031. It stands on Sawmill Branch. The Survey maps it on the Blountsville quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 20 printed sheetsMatched 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 Cullman quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Cullman quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1963 USGS Gadsden quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Blountsville quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1975 USGS Blountsville quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Guntersville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
95 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 95 fires within 5 miles of Royal between 1997 and 2019, burning about 722 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 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 | 39 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20180907-2 |
| 6 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160922-13 |
| 20 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | 9.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Royal: 2 unknowns, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blount County | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown |
Storms near this place
6 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Royal in 6 storm reports between 1997 and 2019: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal | $5,000 | Trees were reported down in the Royal community, in the central part of the county. |
| March 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal | $3,000 | Several trees were snapped off between Royal and Liberty and also on CR 26. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down and blocked the road, between Blountsville and Snead. |
| April 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal | $1,000 | A tree was blown down and blocked the roadway, at the intersection of Royal Liberty Road and Settlement Road, near the Royal community. A vehicle subsequently ran into the tree, but there were no injuries. |
| April 2019 | Tornado (EF1) | Royal | - | National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Blount County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph. The tornado touched down along Graves Cemetery Road south of Blount County Road 26, where a few small trees were damaged. It tracked northeast across County Road 26, where two smaller farm buildings were destroyed, and continued northeast producing sporadic minor limb damage as it crossed Royal-Liberty Road. At this point the storm path widened to 1275 yards as it spread along a valley parallel to Highway 79. The damage also intensified as it crossed Martin Road, uprooting numerous hardwoods, snapping a grove of pines, and causing damage to chicken barns. From here the tornado crossed Highway 79, moving nearly parallel to it for the last 3 miles of the track. At this point the tornado uprooted or snapped numerous large hardwoods and softwoods. Several chicken barns were damaged, a larger hay barn was destroyed, with relatively minor damage to homes along Highway 79. The tornado dissipated in a wooded area just south of Highway 278. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Royal | - | Several trees uprooted along County Road 26 in the Royal Community. |
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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside | 0.6 miles | 22 | |
| Liberty | 2.6 miles | 20 | |
| Hendrix | 3.5 miles | 22 | |
| Fridays Crossing | 3.7 miles | 22 | |
| Susan Moore | 4.0 miles | 22 | |
| Blue Springs | 4.3 miles | 19 | |
| Five Points | 4.4 miles | 20 | |
| Pine Acres | 4.5 miles | 20 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 126006. 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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.








