Verbena

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

From the record

“Verbena, also known as Summerfield, is an unincorporated community in southeastern Chilton County, Alabama, United States. Named for the indigenous flower, Verbena developed into a popular resort location for the more affluent citizenry of Montgomery, the state's capital, during the yellow fever outbreaks of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”
Wikipedia article Verbena, Alabama, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 3 National Register listings published here for Chilton County · listed in 1976 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

Address. US 31, Verbena, 36091
When was it listed? January 1976
Category. district
Census division. Verbena
National Register reference number. 76002238 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

351 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 351 fires within 5 miles of Verbena between 1994 and 2019, burning about 1,832 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 74 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	154
Arson/incendiarism	74
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	60
Recreation and ceremony	30
Equipment and vehicle use	14
Smoking	6
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Natural	5
Railroad operations and maintenance	1
Other causes	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
9 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
8 September 1999	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
8 September 1995	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
7 September 2002	Equipment and vehicle use	5.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
6 September 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	13 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	ECR-20140906-001
5 September 1995	Recreation and ceremony	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 2010	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 1995	Recreation and ceremony	3.5 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Chilton County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 29 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 29 workings within 5 miles of Verbena: 15 unknowns, 11 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Gold, Graphite, Mica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Bama Or Flaketown Mine	Graphite, Mica	Past Producer	Graphite, Muscovite, Roscoelite
Bama Graphite Mine	Graphite	Past Producer
Rippatoe Mine and Placer	Gold	Past Producer	Vein
Rippatoe Placer	Gold	Past Producer	1835
Rocky Creek Placer	Gold	Past Producer	Placer
Rocky Creek Placer	Gold	Past Producer
Rocky Creek Placer Mine	Gold	Past Producer	1872
Unnamed Gold Placer Prospect	Gold	Occurrence	Gold
William Howard Property	Gold	Occurrence	Gold
William Howard Prospect	Gold	Prospect

Every working recorded in Chilton County

Storms near this property

14 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Verbena, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 heavy rain, 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
March 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	$45,000	A severe thunderstorm caused extensive roof damage to two mobile homes in the Midway community just southeast of Verbena. One out-building suffered damage and several large tree limbs were snapped off.
March 2011	Heavy Rain	Verbena	$30,000	Heavy rain reduced visibility and caused slick roadways along Interstate 65 near the Chilton and Autauga county line. As traffic moved slowly due to the thunderstorm and high volume of spring break travelers, a vehicle traveling south hydroplaned and crossed the median, hitting northbound traffic. The accident resulted in 5 fatalities (indirect) and at least 4 injuries (indirect). In addition, three vehicles were destroyed.
March 1996	Hail	Verbena	$15,000	no account filed
February 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	$5,000	Several trees and power lines were blown down in the city of Verbena.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	$5,000	Several large trees and power lines were blown down.
March 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	-	Trees were downed in the Verbena area, causing power outages.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	-	Several trees upooted along County Road 59 in Verbena.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	-	Several trees uprooted along Highway 22 near the city of Verbena.
March 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	-	Several trees uprooted around the town of Verbena.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Verbena	-	A tree was uprooted across County Road 59. A motorcyclist drove into the tree and was injured.
March 2012	Tornado (EF2)	Verbena	-	A tornado touched down just west of Interstate 65, south of exit 200 in Chilton County. Here, a few trees were snapped or uprooted. It quickly strengthened and grew to its maximum width of 700 yards as it crossed County Road 502. The tornado moved east across US Highway 31 near the intersection with County Road 526, 1.5 miles south of Verbena. The tornado intensified to 125 mph and destroyed one home and caused significant damage to another, as well as mowing down hundreds of trees around the two homes. The tornado continued to snap and uproot trees as it neared County Road 524, where it also destroyed two single-wide manufactured homes and caused significant damage to two homes. A total of thirteen homes were damage or destroyed in and around Verbena. The tornado then crossed into Coosa County, before it eventually lifted.
March 2013	Hail	Verbena	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Verbena	-	no account filed
March 2011	Hail	Verbena	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chilton County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 76002238 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Chilton County	All 3 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.