Bellingrath Gardens and Home

Built in 1932. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

From the record

“Bellingrath Gardens and Home is the 65-acre (26 ha) public garden and historic home of Walter and Bessie Bellingrath, located on the Fowl River near Mobile, Alabama, United States. Walter Bellingrath was one of the first Coca-Cola bottlers in the Southeast, and with his wealth built the estate garden and home.”
Wikipedia article Bellingrath Gardens and Home, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 146 National Register listings published here for Mobile County · listed in 1982 · category: District · built in 1932.

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

The listing

Address. S of Theodore off AL 59, Theodore, 36582
When was it listed? October 1982
Category. district
Census division. Bayou La Batre
When was it built? 1932
National Register reference number. 82001609 - 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

288 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 288 fires within 5 miles of Bellingrath Gardens and Home between 1994 and 2020, burning about 12,068 acres in total. None started naturally. 165 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
Arson/incendiarism	165
Debris and open burning	55
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	53
Equipment and vehicle use	10
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Recreation and ceremony	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 2010	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
9 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	30 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
7 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	500 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	20190907-4
7 September 1995	Debris and open burning	15 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 2004	Arson/incendiarism	45 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
30 September 2006	Arson/incendiarism	14 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
25 September 2004	Arson/incendiarism	6.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
20 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Mobile County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Bellingrath Gardens and Home: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
	Unnamed Quarry	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer	Quartz

Every working recorded in Mobile County

Storms near this property

33 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Theodore, the town this property stands in, in 33 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 11 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 7 hail, 4 lightning. The reports record 6 injuries. 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 2011	Tornado (EF2)	Theodore	4 hurt	The tornado touched down near Fire Tower Road blowing off the roof of a residence and blowing over several trees. The tornado strengthened and widened to around 100 yards wide as it crossed the Food World grocery store just west of Theodore Dawes Road, taking sections of the roof off the store, and tossing several cars in the parking lot several feet. The tornado continued east across Theodore Dawes Road severely damaging a Church's Chicken restaurant, destroying a gas service station and a small metal frame shopping center. The tornado continued along Old Pascagoula road destroying a small business, destroying a wood framed home and significantly damaging several other residences and apartments. The tornado lifted as it crossed an apartment complex on Sperry Road, doing minor damage to the roof of 2 units. Mobile County Emergency Management Agency reported the tornado damaged about 25 commercial and residential structures. The damage ranged from minor to serious, with about half of the buildings in the serious category.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	1 hurt	High winds broke two large windows at Mobile Greyhound Park.
June 2006	Lightning	Theodore	1 hurt	A 24 year old male went outside to retrieve his lawn mower and trash can as a thunderstorm was approaching. A lightning strike knocked him to the ground and he passed out. When he awoke, he was on his back and rain was falling on him. The drink he had in his hand when he went to retrieve the items in the yard, was still in his hand and not a drop had spilled. His lawn had a large brown spot where the bolt hit. He was treated at the scene and refused to go to the hospital.
August 2005	Lightning	Theodore	$25,000	Lightning struck a building in Theodore. The building caught on fire and was heavily damaged.
October 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$25,000	Trees and a communications tower were blown down by high winds from a thunderstorm near Theodore.
May 2013	Lightning	Theodore	$15,000	A house was hit by lightning causing a fire and block structure damage.
December 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$10,000	Thunderstorm wind gusts around 60 mph downed trees and power lines on Old Pascagoula Rd near Carrol Plantation Rd.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$8,000	Trees were blown down by high winds from a thunderstorm.
September 2002	Tornado (F0)	Theodore	$8,000	A weak tornado briefly touched down near Theodore. Several trees were blown down by the tornado. No injuries were reported.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$5,000	Winds estimated at 70 mph downed trees near the intersection Old Rock and Government.
December 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$5,000	Winds estimated at 60 mph caused minor roof damage to an apartment building on Cary Hamilton Road.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$5,000	Several trees and power lines were blown down along the Dog River.
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$5,000	no account filed
February 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$5,000	no account filed
November 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	$1,000	Gusty thunderstorm winds blew large limbs down around the area.
June 2023	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Two to three feet of water was covering US 90 in Theodore.
June 2023	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Water began to enter the garage of a home in Theodore, AL.
April 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Theodore	-	High winds caused power outages near Theodore High School.
March 2016	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Water flowing over the road at Bellingrath and Lancaster Roads.
September 2011	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Lee produced flooding along a portion of US Highway 90 in Theodore. Four inches of water was covering the road.
January 2010	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Mobile Police reported a vehicle stalled due to high water covering the road on Mamount Boulevard at Strudwick Court just west of the Mobile Greyhound Park.
December 2009	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Mobile City Police reported water covering the intersection of Bellingrath Road and U.S. Highway 90. Several vehicles were stalled in the high water.
September 2002	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Heavy rains fell across the south part of Mobile county and caused several streets to flood. Many of the secondary streets between Theodore and Bayou la Batre had to be closed for several hours due to the heavy rain. The streets were reopened after the rain stopped and the water had time to drain.
September 2002	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Heavy rains caused streets to flood near Theodore. Several of the streets were impassable and had to be closed for about an hour. The water quickly drained from the streets and they were reopened after the rain stopped.
September 2002	Flash Flood	Theodore	-	Heavy rains caused street flooding between Theodore and Bayou La Batre. Several roads across the south part of Mobile county had to be closed for almost an hour due to the flooded streets. Water quickly drained out of the roads after the rain stopped.
June 2023	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
June 2023	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
August 2008	Lightning	Theodore	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
August 2002	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
July 2000	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
January 1997	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed
March 1996	Hail	Theodore	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mobile 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.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Hiram B. Austin House	2.3 miles	1988
Middle Bay Light	7.2 miles	1974
Bishop Manor Estate	7.3 miles	1985
George Leatherbury House	7.6 miles	1990

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 82001609 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Mobile County	All 146 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.