The Johnston-Torbert House

Eric Lopez

Convenient to both Auburn's Rural Studio and Tuscaloosa. Host is very friendly and accommodating. Very cool civil war era house!

Christopher Lemmon

We have stayed in the Johnston Torburt House twice. Here is my take on the positives and negatives. Good: the rooms are large and the antiques are really beautiful. The house feels like going back in time 100 years. It’s got a number of older pieces which are very unique. The back porch is nice. It’s located Greensboro, close to the town center. To be fair, the price is cheaper than others around the community. Not so good: Both times that we stayed we had challenges with the heat. We stayed in November both times, so if you stay another time of year this may not be a factor. But getting the individual gas flame heaters to work in each room can be a challenge. Each bedroom, except one that has an electric space heater, has its own open flame gas burning heater, something that I am not familiar with and had never seen before. They look quite old and kind of go with the antique feel of the house. It can be a challenge to get these lit. The pilot lights can go out and it’s not exactly self explanatory how to get them working again. Also there are not really any instructions on how to use them posted at least that we found. Our concern was that several people in our party smelled gas in the kitchen and we were concerned that a natural gas leak could put us at risk for an explosion. We did return from our day relatively late, which made contacting Laird more challenging. But we were disappointed we could not reach him by phone or text to addresss this issue. We ended up calling the gas company to come check for leaks. Spire did find a leak and they shut off the gas. We had to leave for the night, that was an inconvenience to our party of 11 staying there. But we were glad we got out safely. If the heater issue is addressed or a non factor because of the time of year, the house is large, very beautiful, and suitable for overnight stays. The house is historic and beautiful decorated. We always enjoy the Greensboro community and have fun visiting the area.