Ben Johnson House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

From the record

“The Ben Johnson House is in the northern outskirts of Bardstown, Kentucky. It was built in 1851 in a Greek Revival style for state senator and lieutenant governor William Johnson.”
Wikipedia article Ben Johnson House (Bardstown, Kentucky), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 44 National Register listings published here for Nelson County · listed in 1979 · 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, Ben, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 1003 N. 3rd St., Bardstown, 40004
When was it listed? July 1979
Category. building
Census division. Bardstown
Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 79001026 - 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

8 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Ben Johnson House between 2000 and 2011, burning about 74 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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	3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3
Recreation and ceremony	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
3 April 2011	Debris and open burning	45 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	WHEELER FIRE
7 March 2000	Debris and open burning	4.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
4 March 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.5 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
28 March 2004	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
21 March 2011	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	BARNES FIRE
18 March 2010	Recreation and ceremony	10 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
29 February 2004	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	not named
13 November 2010	Recreation and ceremony	2.0 acres	Kentucky Division of Forestry	MEADOW LANE FIRE

Every fire recorded in Nelson County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Ben Johnson House: 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
	Nelson County Highway Dept.	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Unknown
	Nelson Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Nelson County

Storms near this property

60 of 75 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bardstown, the town this property stands in, in 75 storm reports between 1974 and 2026: 50 thunderstorm wind, 16 hail, 4 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 25 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
April 1974	Tornado (F4)	Bardstown	1 killed, 24 hurt, $250,000	no account filed
July 2012	Lightning	Bardstown	1 hurt	Local emergency management reported that a person in Bardstown was injured by lightning.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	$100,000	A NWS storm survey determined that a small microburst impacted Nelson County with the strongest winds estimated to be 95 mph. This resulted in the roofs of a bourbon warehouse facility to be blown off.
March 1997	Tornado (F0)	Bardstown	$50,000	no account filed
May 2016	Lightning	Bardstown	$25,000	A fire was started by lightning at My Old Kentucky Home State Park.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	$25,000	Several cars were damaged in a parking lot. Two sheds were destroyed.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	$10,000	Part of a barn roof was blown off. Trees were downed.
September 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	$10,000	A tree was blown on to a house in northern Bardstown.
January 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. Some were blocking road, and one was on a car.
April 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	East Bardstown	-	There was a metal roof torn off of a garage.
January 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees downed on Loretto Road near Willett Distillery.
November 2022	Hail	Bardstown	-	Multiple reports of hail, ranging from between quarter size to ping pong ball size, were received from the Bardstown area.
September 2021	Flash Flood	Bardstown	-	Flash flooding was reported on Old Bloomfield Pike and North 3rd Street.
September 2021	Flash Flood	East Bardstown	-	There was a water rescue on North 3rd Street. The street was closed due to high water. Flood waters reached the front porch of a home on Andrea Court.
June 2020	Flash Flood	Bardstown	-	There was a water rescue on Pottershop Road.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	East Bardstown	-	There were trees down near Woodlawn Road.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Local broadcast media reported that severe thunderstorm winds stripped off large tree limbs around a house.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	State officials reported trees down on Highway 62 near Stephen Foster Avenue.
June 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	The public reported trees down in Bardstown.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were reported down across the county.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Local broadcast media reported a large tree uprooted in the area due to severe thunderstorm winds.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Local law enforcement reported several trees and power lines down in Bardstown and other locations around the county.
April 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Local law enforcement reported several trees downed near Bardstown. Trees were toppled near South Kennett Avenue, Barton Road, and Edelen Avenue.
December 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	The local media relayed a report of a 72 mph wind gust in Bardstown.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	A few electrical outages were reported and a couple of trees were down in the Bardstown city limits.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were down in the city of Bardstown.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	A storm not associated with the bow echo that crossed Louisville brought isolated large hail and damaging winds to Bardstown. Local Emergency Management reported several trees and power lines downed across Bardstown. An off duty NWS employee reported one inch hail and 60 mph winds. Strong winds damaged a hanger's door and tore some trim from the Old Terminal Building at the Nelson County Airport.
March 2010	Hail	Bardstown	-	Nickel size hail was reported at the county dispatch office.
August 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Several trees were blown down- mainly on the northern side of Bardstown.
January 2008	Flash Flood	East Bardstown	-	Highway 162 (Old Bloomfield Road) was flooded at Irish Ridge Road and closed. Plum Run Road at Wilkerson was closed due to high water.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees downed all across Bardstown.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were reported down in Bardstown along U.S. Highway 62.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were downed.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees and power lines were downed.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were downed.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	A tree was downed.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were blown down. A spotter estimated a 70 mph wind gust.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	An off duty NWS employee estimated a 70 mph wind gust.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were downed.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were blown down on to power lines.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Power lines and large limbs were downed.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Large limbs were blown down.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees were downed.
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Trees down
September 1998	Flood	Bardstown	-	Heavy rain caused minor street flooding.
May 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	Bardstown police reports several trees down.
April 2017	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
April 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	no account filed
June 2007	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	no account filed
January 2006	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	no account filed
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bardstown	-	no account filed
July 2004	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
March 2002	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
March 2002	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Bardstown	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Nelson 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

6 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
Confederate Monument of Bardstown	0.3 miles	1997
Bruntwood	0.5 miles	1975
Wilson Motel	0.8 miles	2011
Cottage Grove Historic District	0.8 miles	1991
Old L & N Station	1.0 miles	1990
Wickland	1.1 miles	1973

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 79001026 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Nelson County	All 44 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.