John Johnson House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“The John Johnson House also known as The Green Onion is a historic residence near Leighton, Alabama, US. The house was built in the late 1820s by John Johnson, a settler from Mecklenburg County, Virginia, who lived in Middle Tennessee before coming to North Alabama.”
Wikipedia article John Johnson House (Leighton, Alabama), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 29 National Register listings published here for Colbert County · listed in 1986 · category: Building.

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

The listing

Listed as. Johnson, John, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Near jct. of Fosters Mill and River Rds., Leighton, 35661
When was it listed? July 1986
Category. building
Also known as. Tidewater Cottages in the Tennessee Valley TR
Census division. Leighton
National Register reference number. 86001537 - 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

91 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 91 fires within 5 miles of John Johnson House between 1994 and 2016, burning about 581 acres in total. None started naturally. 17 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	35
Arson/incendiarism	17
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	13
Recreation and ceremony	12
Equipment and vehicle use	9
Smoking	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	2

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 2016	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	20160907-3
7 September 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	20160907-6
5 September 1995	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
4 September 1999	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
30 September 2008	Debris and open burning	1.5 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	RIVER ROAD, AL
28 September 1999	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
27 September 2008	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named
21 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8.0 acres	Alabama Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Colbert County

Storms near this property

51 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Leighton, the town this property stands in, in 51 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 29 thunderstorm wind, 14 hail, 5 flash flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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
June 1997	Tornado (F1)	Leighton	1 hurt, $100,000	A tornado touched down near the intersection of Sockwell Lane and CR 22 and moved nearly due east causing damage to five houses in the area where it first touched down and to the high school near the end of the track. One person was injured when he fell down the stairs heading to shelter. Several trees were also downed. Several storage sheds were destroyed, too.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$50,000	Numerous trees and power lines were blown down from near the city of Leighton, northward all the way to the Tennessee River. A few of the fallen trees landed on homes.
March 1996	Hail	Leighton	$15,000	no account filed
February 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$14,000	Three large trees were blown down at Colbert County High School. Some of the trees damaged some of the awning at the school.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$10,000	A barn was blown down.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$8,000	no account filed
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$5,000	A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds on New High School Street in Leighton, Alabama.
February 1997	Hail	Leighton	$5,000	no account filed
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$4,000	Trees and powerlines were blown down at this location.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$3,000	Trees and powerlines were knocked down near the intersections of Main Street and New High School Street.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$3,000	Trees were knocked down near this location.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$3,000	Trees were reported blown down at this location.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$3,000	Trees were reported down at this location.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$2,000	Trees were blown down behind a residence on New High School Street.
July 2012	Lightning	Leighton	$2,000	Lighting sparked a small tree fire.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$2,000	A few power lines were downed by severe thunderstorm winds near Colbert County High School.
October 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$2,000	Power lines were blown down in Leighton according to State Police.
August 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$2,000	no account filed
April 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was knocked down on High School Street near Colbert County High School.
May 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was reported down at near the intersection of Countyline road and Crockett Lane. Time was estimated from radar data.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was knocked down at this location on Old Highway 20. Time was estimated from radar.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was reported down on near the intersection of Meadow Street and Circle Drive. Time was estimated from radar.
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was knocked down onto a residence at 1900 Clark Street.
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	A tree was knocked down onto a residence at 2226 North Washington Avenue.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$1,000	Several trees were downed by the wind. One large tree was blown down and blocked Wallace Mill Road temporarily.
February 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$500	A tree was knocked down near 8180 Old Highway 20.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$500	Winds caused damage to a baseball field backstop and net.
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$200	A tree was knocked down at the intersection of Crockett Lane and County Line Road.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	$200	A tree was knocked down on 2nd Street and Sadie Roberson Street. Time estimated by radar.
September 2021	Flash Flood	Leighton	-	Leighton Police Dept reports several streets in downtown Leighton under 4-5 feet of water. Also, County Line Road just south of Hwy 20 has about 5-6 feet of water covering it.
June 2019	Hail	Leighton	-	Half dollar sized hail was reported through broadcast media.
March 2017	Hail	Leighton	-	Quarter sized hail was reported.
March 2013	Hail	Leighton	-	Nickel sized hail was reported.
May 2012	Hail	Leighton	-	Nickle sized hail was reported in Leighton.
July 2012	Hail	Leighton	-	Quarter sized hail was reported in Leighton.
August 2011	Flash Flood	Leighton	-	Several inches of water was over the road due to flash flooding along old highway 20, just southeast of Leighton near county line road.
May 2008	Flash Flood	Leighton	-	Heavy rainfall from training thunderstorms produced several inches of running water over several roadways in the Leighton community.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	-	A tree was blown down by thunderstorm winds.
January 2006	Flood	Leighton	-	Heavy rainfall of 1 to 3 inches fell across this region during the 17th and 18th.
April 2006	Hail	Leighton	-	Golfball hail was reported.
September 2006	Hail	Leighton	-	Penny sized hail was reported near the Hatton Fire Department.
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	-	Several trees were blown down along Nat Pond Road and 3 Mile Road. Also, a roof was blown off a mobile home and a tree fell on a house.
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	-	Two mobile homes sustained roof damage.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Leighton	-	A tree and transformer was blown down due to thunderstorm winds.
February 2003	Flash Flood	Leighton	-	Sixth street flooded in Leighton.
February 2003	Flash Flood	Leighton	-	Sixth Street closed due to two foot of flood waters in Leighton.
May 2003	Hail	Leighton	-	penny size hail reported
May 2002	Hail	Leighton	-	Dime size hail was reported just north of Leighton.
October 2001	Hail	Leighton	-	Nickel size hail was reported in the Lagrange Community.
May 1999	Hail	Leighton	-	Nickel size hail fell in the northeastern part of the county near Leighton.
August 2001	Hail	Leighton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Colbert 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

3 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
Old Brick Presbyterian Church	4.0 miles	1989
Clyde Carter House	4.4 miles	2004
Preuit Oaks	7.1 miles	1986

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 86001537 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Colbert County	All 29 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.
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.