Georgia Natural Wonder #230 - Hart State Park - Hart County. 283

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #230 - Hart State Park - Hart County

The Hart State Outdoor Recreation Area, also known as Hart State Park and Hart Park, is a community 147 acres natural park located at 330 of Hart Park Road, in Hartwell, Georgia, in northeast Georgia. We planned to include all State Parks as Georgia Natural Wonders.



However, as of April 1st, 2020, Hart State Park is no longer managed by the Department of Natural Resources and has transitioned to the City of Hartwell. If you have any questions about your upcoming reservation or for additional information, please contact (706) 376-1340.

 

A marvelous opportunity for a TRD Scrolling Nugget, we present Heart for Hart State Park.



This recreation area is used by the community for swimming, boating, water skiing and water sports in general, and fishing on Lake Hartwell, and for hiking and biking on a 1.5 miles trail.



Hart Park also offers a hiking trails under repair and a self-registration campground, which is opened seasonally from March 15 until September 15.

 

Swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing on Lake Hartwell are prime reasons to visit Hartwell Lakeside Park in northeast Georgia.



Large mouth bass, hybrid bass, striper, black crappie, bream, rainbow trout and wall-eyed pike can be found in the sparkling waters of this 55,590 acre reservoir.



The park’s boat ramps and docks offer easy access to all water sports.



Visitors can also enjoy hiking/biking trails and a children’s playground.



Reservations, Accommodations & Facilities
   
147 Acres with Hartwell Dam nearby.


 
Lake Hartwell, 900 miles of shoreline.


   
42 Tent, Trailer, RV Campsites (NOTE: campsites 4, 5, & 7 only have one 30amp receptacle)


   
16 Walk-In Campsites — site-specific


   
3 Picnic Shelters.


   
Boat Ramp.


   
Playground for kids and wild ducks for dogs to chase.

 

Big And Little Cricket Trail

Head out on this 2.9-mile loop trail near Hartwell, Georgia. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 1 h 1 min to complete.



This trail is great for camping, fishing, and hiking, and it's unlikely you'll encounter many other people while exploring. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime. Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.



About half the trails are marked about every 1/8 mile with informational placards about different natural elements making it a great nature walk



The park is named after the American Revolutionary War heroine Nancy Hart, who lived in the Georgia frontier, and it was her devotion to freedom that has helped make her name commonplace in the Georgia upcountry today. We have covered Nancy Hart in several earlier post:

In our post on Brunswick we noted  Historic Oak Grove Cemetery, located at 1500 Mansfield Street and is perhaps one of the oldest existing public cemeteries in Brunswick, and by existing I mean still visible. One known burial in that extinct "City Cemetery" was Benjamin Hart, Revolutionary War Veteran who died in 1802. He was the husband of Nancy Hart.



In our post on Elbert County we featured the counties favorite daughter. Hart was part of Elbert County back then. During the American Revolution Wilkes County became the scene of severe partisan fighting among Tories, patriots, and Indians. One of the Revolution’s most famous heroines, Nancy Hart, lived in a log cabin along the Broad River and earned a place in history by single-handedly defeating a party of Tories who had invaded her home. According to one account, a group of five or six Tory soldiers came by the Hart house looking either for food or a Whig they were pursuing. The soldiers demanded that Hart cook them one of her turkeys, and she agreed to feed them. As they entered the cabin, they placed their guns by the door before sitting at her table to eat. As they were drinking and eating, she pushed their guns outside through a hole in the wall of the cabin. After the soldiers had been drinking a sufficient time, she grabbed one of the remaining guns and ordered the men to stay still. One ignored her threat, so she shot and killed him. Another made a move toward the weapons, and she killed him as well. She held the remaining Tories captive until her husband and neighbors arrived. According to legend, her husband wanted to shoot the soldiers outright, but she demanded that they be hanged, which was accomplished from a nearby tree.



A devout patriot, Hart gained notoriety during the revolution for her determined efforts to rid the area of Tories, English soldiers, and British sympathizers. Her single-handed efforts against Tories and Indians in the Broad River frontier, as well as her covert activities as a patriot spy, have become the stuff of myth, legend, and local folklore.



In GNW #201, we learned the Nancy Hart Log Cabin is located off Highway 17, south of Elberton. In 1932, the Elbert County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, recognizing the contribution of Nancy Hart, erected a replica of her cabin on the site of the original home place. The stones from the fireplace and chimney of Benjamin and Nancy Hart’s early home were used to recreate the cabin to its original state.



In our post on Elijah Clarke State Park and our tangent on John Dooly, we mentioned that the same men who killed Dooly may have been the men Nancy Hart killed.  While in his house one night, in the bosom of his family, a mystery party of Tories, that may have included William McCorkle, William Corker, Joseph Wilder, or John Harris Cruger. With most of the men from South Carolina, they entered at dead of night, and in the most barbarous manner murdered him in the presence of his wife and children.



Colonel Dooly was about 45 years of age at the time of his death. He left a widow and several sons. Loyalist and British leaders learned too late that, through atrocities such as the killing of John Dooly, they created rather than suppressed a widespread uprising. Of the state of Georgia’s dozen chief executives during the Revolution, for example, Archibald Bulloch may have been poisoned; Button Gwinnett and George Wells were killed in political duels; and John Adam Treutlin and Myrick Davies were reportedly executed by Loyalists.



It is rumored that the men Nancy Hart killed or captured, were escaping Dooly killers.

Hart County Georgia

Hart County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,213. The county seat is Hartwell.


1911 Map.

Hart County was created December 7, 1853 and named for Nancy Hart. Of Georgia's 159 counties, Hart County is the only one named after a woman. Lake Hartwell is also named for her.



Letters to Miss Celie in the movie The Color Purple (film) by Steven Spielberg, based on the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker, are addressed to "Hartwell County, Georgia" suggesting that the movie is set either in Hartwell or Hart County.



History

When it was carved out of Elbert and Franklin counties in 1853, Hart became the only county in Georgia named for a woman.



Hart County’s position between Georgia and South Carolina has fostered strong commercial and demographic ties to both states. With Hartwell serving as its county seat and the center of local trade and crop processing, Hart followed an economic pattern fairly typical of Georgia’s Piedmont counties in the twentieth century. When the boll weevil crisis hit just ahead of the Great Depression, the county’s population fell from roughly 18,000 in 1920 to scarcely 15,000 a decade later; it would be a half-century before the county regained its 1920 population levels. As the cotton industry declined after World War II (1941-45), many Hart County residents moved away from farming and into jobs at the local apparel and textile plants.



Population numbers began to climb with the construction of Hartwell Dam.  The dam converted the Savannah River and some of its tributaries into Lake Hartwell, which, with nearly 1,000 miles of shoreline, would become one of the largest man-made bodies of water east of the Mississippi River. Construction began in 1955 and concluded in 1963, bringing in many new workers and opportunities for outdoor recreation.



Both population and visitor numbers continued to grow as Lake Hartwell and its natural surroundings and amenities—including marinas, campgrounds, and golf courses—attracted people from around the Southeast. Hartwell’s population expanded by 30 percent between 1970 and 2000, and the county began to attract more permanent residents, especially retirees from Atlanta and the North.



According to the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Hart County is 25,828. By the early twenty-first century, the local economy had diversified to include agriculture and horticulture, high-tech industry, and tourism-related businesses. These developments were supported in part by the county’s strategic location between Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, on the Interstate 85 corridor and by its close proximity to the University of Georgia, Athens Technical College, and Clemson University in South Carolina.



National Register of Historic Places

Adams—Matheson House, located at 116 Athens St. in Hartwell, Georgia, was built in 1900. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is a one-story Victorian Eclectic frame house built in 1900 which had later alterations including a Craftsman-influenced porch. It has a large gable on its front facade which is covered with fish-scale shingles and has a cut and turned bargeboard.



Archibald Mewborn House in the vicinity of Hartwell, Georgia was built in about 1810. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. Built originally as a single-pen log house in c.1810, it was expanded by shed additions during 1825–1865, and by a central-hall cottage added on the west in about 1860. After 1940 plumbing and electricity and kitchen cabinets were installed, along with a screened porch and a well pump. It was renovated during 1992–1995. It is now a "one-story, three-bay, frame house with a central-hall plan and a rear ell."



Benson Street-Forest Avenue Residential Historic District is a historic district in Hartwell, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is located roughly along Benson St. from Forest Ave. to Adams St. and along Forest Ave. from Railroad St. to Garrison Rd. It includes Bungalow/craftsman, Late Victorian, and Victorian Eclectic architecture. It included 46 contributing buildings on about 75 acres.



Its 1985 NRHP nomination asserts "The district is significant as one of three intact historic residential areas in Hartwell and one which contains many of its oldest and grandest houses. It documents the building materials, types, styles, and construction technologies typically found in small northeast Georgia towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The district contains one of Hartwell's few extant antebellum houses. It provides excellent examples of a variety of Victorian Eclectic and Bungalow/Craftsman residences. Among the Victorian Eclectic houses are a number with considerable Queen Anne detailing including balconies, turrets, bay windows, tall chimneys, and decorative shinglework. Other smaller Victorian Eclectic-style houses provide examples of modestly detailed cottages with a minimum of porch and gable-end trim. A number of the Craftsman-style dwellings and some earlier houses "updated" with Craftsman-style porches were constructed by the Temple family, Hartwell's extremely important family of builders, building-supply dealers and architects whose businessshaped the community's built environment."


Skelton House.

It was also deemed significant in social history and in history of community planning and development. Notable Victorian "mansions" in the district include: Skelton House, with asymmetrical massing and a Classical Revival two-story entrance portico, home of judge Carey Skelton, who was Georgia's Solicitor General and was Judge of the Fourth Circuit; McCurry House, with one-story wraparound porch, and Queen Anne-style massing, turrets, and trim; Linder House, similar to McCurry House.


Thornton-Fabian House (Ca. 1884) Benson Street-Forest Avenue Residential Historic District.

Allie M. Best House, at 344 Athens St. in Hartwell, Georgia, is a Tudor Revival-style house built in 1930. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is a two-story Tudor Revival house with a Craftsman interior. It was designed by local architect Luther Temple and was built by Walker and Jule Temple. It was deemed "architecturally significant as a rare example in Hartwell of an English Tudor-style house", and its grounds were deemed locally significant for their terraced landscaping done by Best.


Bowersville Historic District in Bowersville, Georgia is a historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The district included 24 contributing buildings on 35 acres, along East and West Main Street. It included Late Victorian architecture and other architecture.


Town Hall (center), post office, and community center in Bowersville.

Chandler-Linder House Asa Candler, Sr., Atlanta Coca-Cola magnate owned property 1905. in 1908 the property was sold to Fred P. Linder. Linder was the owner of the local telephone company at the time he bought and lived in this house.


H. E. Fortson House, at 221 Richardson St. in Hartwell, Georgia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It was built around 1913. It is a one-story frame house with a hipped roof and a wrap-around shed-roofed porch. It was deemed "important in local black/social history for its association with the Reverend H. E. Fortson" and its NRHP nomination provides:



Fortson served as minister of the Hartwell First Baptist Church in the early twentieth century and preached at other Baptist churches in Hart County during his career. He was a prominent minister and teacher in the Rome community of Hartweil. Traditionally, churches were among the most important social and cultural institutions in black communities, and ministers were among the prominent figures in these communities; the role played by Fortson in the Rome section of Hartwell is no exception. / Architecturally, the Fortson House is significant as an example of the type of house built for and lived in by relatively prominent middle-class black citizens of Hartwell in the early 20th century. This type of modest, straightforward house, with its simple arrangement of rooms around a central hall and its wrap-around porch and hipped roof, typifies the housing found in many of Georgia's small-town black neighborhoods. Relatively few examples of this type of housing survive with their major features intact, making this house a good example of the type.

Franklin Light and Power Company Steam Generating Station


This building is a utiitarian , one-story , brick structure. It is rectangular in plan and contains a flat roof. The minimal adornment stems from its original industrial use as a steam generating plant.

Franklin Street-College Avenue Residential Historic District is a historic district in Hartwell, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The district is roughly bounded by Johnson, Maple, Franklin and First, and Carter Sts. It includes 29 contributing buildings on 20 acres. It includes some commercial buildings and the brick Works Progress Administration-built community clubhouse at the corner of Howell and Richardson, as well as Victoria eclectic and Craftsman bungalow houses.



Gulley-Gurley Farm Once part of a 51-acre farm, the property includes the main house, a one-and-one-half-story Georgian Cottage built in 1909.



The interior of the Georgian-plan house features a center hall with two rooms on each side. The symmetrically-placed flanking chimneys provide a fireplace for each of the four principal rooms. These rooms (a front parlor and dining room on the northwest side and front and rear bedrooms on the southeast side) feature beaded-board ceilings and wood floors, plaster walls, picture rails, molded door and window surrounds with corner blocks, molded baseboards, wainscots, paneled doors and transoms, and original mantels and hardware.



Gulley-Vickery-Blackwell House This two-story, three-bay structure is Plain style with six chamfered posts extending both storys and enclosing first and second story porches which extend the width of the principal entrance facade. this structure was built prior to the Civil War as the home of Jasper P. Gulley. The house was constructed on the north side of the public square on Lot 42 of the original plan.



Hart County Jail This jail structure is the fourth jail for the county. The design is significant in that the jail's overall exterior appearance does not connote a jail, but rather a house, school, or some other civic building. Thus this structure blended with others in the community and did not stand out as a "jail".



Hartwell City School The Hartwell City School complex consists of a classroom building and a gymnasium, built in 1934. The Georgian Revival classroom building is characterized by a entrance pavillion which projects slightly from the center of the five-bay, one-story structure.



Hartwell Commercial Historic District is a 14 acres historic district in Hartwell, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is 14 acres in size and is roughly bounded by Franklin St., Forest Ave., Railroad St., and Jackson and Carolina Sts. It includes 48 contributing buildings and one contributing structure. It was deemed architecturally significant for its "collection of historic commercial buildings which define the historic character of Hartwell's town center. The buildings document the types, styles, building materials, and construction techniques prevalent in the commercial areas of small northeast Georgia towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Types represented include stores (many with second-floor office space), banks, warehouses, and a depot. Their close concentration along the streets with consistent setbacks and party walls is typical of small Georgia towns of the period. The majority are simple late-Victorian-style buildings with detailing consisting of brick corbeling, round- and segmental-arched window openings, and parapet roofs."


More on Hartwell below.

Hartwell Methodist Episcopal Church, South This building is a Gothic Revival-style church. The building is faced in red brick and rests on a rusticated granite foundation. The structure is Greek-cross in plan and is covered by a steep cross-gable roof. The present brick structure was constructed in 1897 by plans from the Atlanta architect Willis J. Denny.



Horton-Vickery House This 1884 house is a one and one-half story, frame, Victorian-eclectic residence. It contains a steep pyramidal roof with multiple projecting gables covering one story bays.



Pearl J. Jones House This 1913 two-story, frame, Neo-classical structure is dominated by a quatrastyle, monumental, Ionic portico that extends the full width of the principal facade. A clapboard frieze and wide, bracketed eaves extend from the three-bay front which contains centered doorways.



Kendrick-Matheson House The Kendrick-Metheson House was built in 1912 by the Temple family from designs taken from a pattern book of Atlanta architect Leila Ross Wilburn. The original owner of the property, Sid Kendrick, operated Kendrick and Cobb, a general mercantile store in Hartwell. This structure is architecturally significant as an intact example of a Bungalow with Craftsman design features. It is one of the most intact Craftsman-style Bungalows in the multiple resource area.



Charles I. Kidd House, located at 304 W. Howell St. in Hartwell, Georgia, was built in 1896. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is a two-story frame structure with Queen Anne architectural influences. Also known as the Bailey Residence, the listing includes three contributing buildings and a contributing structure: the property includes a historic brick greenhouse, a historic frame garage, and a historic frame chicken house. Charles I. Kidd was owner and manager of a livery business in downtown Hartwell.



Roscoe Conklin Linder House in Hartwell, Georgia is a Craftsman bungalow which was built in 1917. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is a one-and-a-half-story brick veneer house, built to a design by Leila Ross Wilburn. Roscoe Conklin Linder served as mayor of Hartwell in two terms. The NRHP nomination explains its significance as:



Linder House The Linder House is architecturally significant as a good intact example of a Bungalow with Craftsman design features. Its low massing, broad gable roof, wide front and side porch with squat columns, fenestration patterns, and exposed rafter and roof brackers are all characteristics of the Craftsman style as it was interpreted locally in Hartwell. Its architectural significance is enhanced from associations with the builder, John William Temple, and the architect, Leila Ross Wilburn, who provided a pattern book design. John William Temple belonged to the Temple family of builders, designers, and contractors who built or remodeled many homes and buildings in Hartwell during the early 20th century. Leila Ross Wilburn was Georgia's first woman architect who specialized in pattern book designs for homes.



McCurry-Kidd House, located at 602 W. Howell St. in Hartwell, Georgia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is a two-story, brick, Georgian-revival house built in c.1920-24. It was a home of Dr. Edgar McCurry (1877-1962). It is located on the north side of Howell Street near its intersection with Franklin Street. It was designed by architect Willis Irwin. Its NRHP nomination identified it as the only example of Georgian Revival style in Hartwell. The listing included a second contributing building. There is also a "McCurry House" included in the Benson Street-Forest Avenue Residential Historic District in Hartwell.



McMullan-Vickery Farm The 1892 McMullan-Vickery Farm consists of a farmhouse and several outbuildings on approximately four acres of land at the north outskirts of Hartwell. The one-story, frame house is essentially a Victorian-eclectic structure with Craftsman-inspired detailing on the interior and a Craftsman-style porch. The high hipped roof contains multiple projecting gables which cover first story bays. The roof retains original metal shingles. The principal or entrance facade is dominated by a projecting gabled bay and a slightly smaller gabled dormer. The property's social and commerical significance is derived from its associations with I. P. Vickery, a local merchant who owned and operated a hardware and farm implements business in downtown Hartwell and who also operated a small-scale farm on the outskirts of town.



Dr. Owen Meredith House The structure was built in 1923 as the residence for Dr. Owen Meredith, a local physician and a graduate of Emory University School of Medicine. This property is significant in terms of architecture as a good intact example of the Craftsman style. Its low, horizontal masssing under a single broad roof, prominent porch detailed with massive piers, exposed rafter ends, and brackets, brickmasonry detailing, and window arrangements are hallmarks of the Craftsman style.



Jackson Morrison House, at 439 Rome St. in Hartwell, Georgia, was built around 1902. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It has also been known as the Turner Property. It is a one-story, frame, Plain-style house with a main gable roof and a rear ell. It was built by Jackson Morrison, a black carpenter and farmer.



Patterson-Turner Homeplace The Patterson-Turner Homeplace consists of a main house and historic barn on a small, 11.9 acre tract just east of Hartwell. The main house is a dwelling built in 1835 in the Early Classical Revival style. 



It has a two-story, four-columned, central double portico over an entrance doorway with transom and fanlights. The house has the four room, central hall plan on both floors. The main house has fluted columns with unadorned capitals which support a double portico with turned spindles and balustrades. 



The Patterson-Turner Homeplace is significant in architecture because it is an excellent example of the Early Classical Revival style employing Jeffersonian ideals in Georgia. It retains almost all of its original features The house was built by James Patterson (1786-1853) at the peak of his career as a farmer/planter to reflect his prominence.




Pure Oil Service Station in Hartwell, Georgia, on Howell St. at Jackson St., was built in 1932. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It has also been known as White's Service Station & Muffler Shop and "Willie's Service Station and Muffler shop". It is a one-story brick structure with styling derivative of English Tudor Revival architecture.



Emory Edward Satterfield House This structure was built in 1914 for Emory Edward Satterfield (1872-1940) from plans provided by James J. Baldwin of Anderson, South Carolina. The Satterfield brothers operated a general mercantile store in the R. McCurry Building in Hartwell. Later, E. E. Satterfield began a livery business which evolved into a new car dealership. He also served as the local distributor for Standard Oil products.



Meyer Saul House Myer Saul (1875-1966), a Jewish merchant born in Europe, had this structure built circa 1902 as his residence. Saul had come to Hartwell circa 1892 to work with his brother, Joe Saul, in an existing retail operation in downtown Hartwell. The J. Saul and Brothers were dealers in clothing, gents furnishings, goods, hats, and shoes. The historical significance of the Saul House is derived from its association with Myer Saul. Saul was of the Jewish faith which was highly unusual in a predominantly Protestant region. It is noteworthy that Saul included his faith in advertisements promoting his business.



Alexander Stephens Skelton House Alexander Stephens Skelton (1878-1976) and his wife Caroline Nabors Skelton (1883-1981) built this structure as their residence circa 1918. Will Temple built the structure from pattern book plans provided by Leila Ross Wilburn, an Atlanta architect. Alexander "Steve" Skelton practiced law and served as Solicitor General of the Northeast Georgia Judical Circuit. 



Ralph Teasley House This structure was built in 1922 on property purchased by T. W.Teasley in 1892. Architecturally, the Teasley House is a good intact example of a Craftsman-style residence. The house is significant in local social history through its direct association with Ralph Teasley, the original owner. Teasley was a merchant in Hartwell who provided groceries and school books to the community; his interest in merchandising the latter may have resulted from the fact that his wife was a local school teacher.



Thomas William Teasley House This structure is architecturally significant as an intact example of a highly detailed Victorian-eclectic residence dating from 1892 and maintaining a diversity of millwork and original fixtures both on the interior and exterior. In commerce this structure gains significance through its association with T. W. Teasley. Teasley was one of Hartwell's early businessmen. He operated a general mercantile store and was also a lawyer, private banker, planter, and mayor of Hartwell. In addition, three of Teasley's sons, who each became successful businessmen, were raised in this house.



Teasley-Holland House The Teasley Holland House is significant architecturally as an unusual Victorian house in Hartwell, one of a very few with Italianate-style influences. These features include the paired cornice brackets, the recessed porch and entry, and the projecting bay window. The house is significant historically for its associations with Asbury Teasley and William Yancey Holland. Teasely has been called one of Hartwell's and Hart County's most prominent citizens, a large land owner and operator of both farming and trading establishments. His moving into town after the Civil War is typical of the action taken by many planters who formerly had lived in the country.



John Roland Temple House This 1892 building is historically significant as the original residence of the Temple family. This house was the residence of the elder member of the Temple family in Hartwell who designed and built this and other houses in town. John Roland Temple was the first family member to enter the building trade. He inspired his son, John William, and seven grandchildren to enter the building trade. This building is architecturally significant as a good local example of Victorian Eclectic design upgraded on the interior to reflect the later Craftsman style.



Temple-Skelton House The architectural evolution exhibited by this structure contributes to its architectural significance. The original Victorian design of 1912, still evident in the overall massing of the house, its hipped roof, and detailed gables. The house is significant in local social history from its associations with the first two owners. J. W. Temple was the owner of the Temple Lumber Company as well as a designer and builder. Temple and his sons are responsible for numerous structures within the multiple resource area.



John Underwood HouseThis property is important in local black/social history due to its association with Johh Underwood. Underwood was the original owner of the structure and its original 13.4 acre tract. He was employed as an overseer at the Hartwell Cotton Mills. In the early 20th-century it was highly unusual for a small-town black resident to obtain this level of prominence in the operation and management of a major community business.Architecturally, this structure is significant as an example of Victorian-eclectic design. The intact condition of the structure, with the exception of newer applied siding and windows, contributes to its importance.



Witham Cotton Mills Village Historic District is a 18 acres historic district in Hartwell, Georgia. The district included 47 contributing buildings along Liberty Circle, Jackson, and Webb Streets in Hartwell, including Bungalow/craftsman, Late Victorian, and vernacular Victorian architecture. It includes multiple "two-family, wood-framed, weatherboarded housing units with their simple shed-roofed porches and double entrances" which are "typical of much of Georgia's mill housing. The one-story and two-story variations on what is basically the same housing unit are frequently found, as in the district, in the same mill village in order to provide a variety of living spaces for different size families. 



The single-family brick bungalows in the district, built in the early 20th century for supervisors and their families, serve to document the different living accommodations frequently provided within a mill village for mill management. The few small Victorian houses absorbed into the mill village as it was constructed contrast with the unrelenting sameness of the housing built by the mill for its workers. Although not much larger than some of the mill housing units, these small cottages have modest individual touches, an L-shaped plan with a bay window in one, a gable-end sunburst design in another."


Liberty Circle Home

Historical Markers and War Memorials in Hart County, Georgia

Goldmine

 

Redwine Church




Center of the World


The marker and the D.A.R. boulder marking the "Center of the World."

Cherokee Assembly Ground



Coca-Cola Bottling Plant



Hart County Confederate Monument



Hart County Training School



War Memorials

   
Foreign Wars - WW I - WW II/Korean

Hartwell REO Company


This building was originally built as the Hartwell REO Company, a garage and motor car showroom for the REO automobile. … (Ridin the Storm Out) This building has had many incarnations over the years, and when it was remodeled in 1976 as a law practice, it became the first (and still the only) building in town with a full-size indoor tree and garden.

Hillard J. Mullenix



Louie Morris Memorial Bridge




Bridge with Hartwell Dame in rear.

Mayor Joan Saliba



Nancy Hart



Parkertown - 1832



The Broken V


Vietnam Memorial

U.S. Post Office



Veterans of All Wars



Attractions

Lake Hartwell, a man-made lake covering 56,000 acres and a shoreline of 962 miles. Bordering Georgia and South Carolina, it is located less than two hours from both Atlanta and Charlotte. 



Interstate 85 bisects the lake providing easy access. Lake Hartwell is one of the southeast's largest and most popular outdoor recreation lakes.
   
The Scarecrow Festival occurs in Hartwell every year during the month of October. 



This is when the downtown gets "invaded" by scarecrows, which are handmade scarecrows placed in front of local shops and businesses.
   
Cateechee is one of the state's finest golf courses. 



It has 380 acres of land and 18 holes.
   
The Hartwell Dam is the county's largest generator of electricity, supplying power to more than 10 states. It can be seen at the Georgia and South Carolina border or U.S. Route 29. 



Usually power is generated daily and a long fog horn is heard all around the dam before they start generating.

Communities

Hartwell

Hartwell is a city in Hart County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,469 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Hart County.



Historic downtown Hartwell is a Georgia Main Street City. 



With the renovation of the downtown historical area antique shops, you can plan to spend a weekend touring homes, shopping and dining at the restaurants and eateries.

History

Hartwell was founded in 1854 as seat of the newly formed Hart County. It was incorporated as a town in 1856 and as a city in 1904. The town was named for Revolutionary War figure Nancy Morgan Hart. The town was spared much of the direct devastation accompanying the Civil War. With its fortunes wedded so closely to the local cotten economy, Hartwell suffered from the invasion of the boll weevil in the 1920s as well as several bank failures in the latter part of the decade.



Hartwell  suffered a severe aesthetic setback in 1967 with the loss of its classic courthouse to fire. The replacement, a modern one-story building, now occupies the town square, contrasting sharply with the town’s beautifully preserved houses and historic buildings. 



Compared with similar towns throughout the state, Hartwell’s core area seems to be holding its own.



Bowersville

Bowersville is a town in Hart County, Georgia, United States. 


Cotton Gin Bowersville

As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 444.

History

The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Bowersville as a town in 1883. The community was named after Job Bowers, a local postal official.


Old Cotton warehouse and S.T. Fleming's General store.

Bowersville saw its commercial peak between the 1880s and 1910s and S. T. Fleming’s was likely the busiest store in town. The second floor of the mercantile was the Masonic Lodge. The smaller building to the right was built by Fleming in 1907 for use by another business.

Eagle Grove

Eagle Grove is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Hart County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 139 as of the 2020 census. U.S. Route 29 passes through the community.
   
Reed Creek

Reed Creek is a census-designated place in Hart County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,604 at the 2010 census, up from 2,148 at the 2000 census.


Reed Creek Point.
   
Air Line

Air Line (sometimes spelled Airline) is an unincorporated community in Hart County, in the U.S. state of Georgia.


A post office called Air Line was established in 1856, and remained in operation until 1907. Besides the post office, Air Line had a railroad depot.

Notable People

J.J. Brown- the state’s eighth agriculture commissioner.



Major General Donald Burdick - retired Army major general and director of the Army National Guard.



Mike Hubbard - Former Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives and convicted felon.



Terry Kay - writer.



Blind Simmie Dooley - (1881-1967), country and blues singer.



Kalmon Rucker - Linebacker North Carolina Tar Heels.



Malachi Thomas - Running Back For Virginia Tech.



Our Georgia Natural Wonder Gals today are all Hart women .....



Mary Hart ET - Melissa Joan Hart Sabrina - Jessica Hart SI Swimsuit - Dorothy Hart Naked City - Beth Hart Singer