Captain Hardy Smith House
Side 1
Capt. Hardy B Smith (1841-1912), CSA, one of Laurens County´s noted veterans, served in the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee. Smith when war broke out, was called home from classes at the University of Georgia and elected First Sergeant of Co. H, "The Blackshear Guards," of the 14th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment. As a second lieutenant, Smith suffered a wound at Mechanicsville resulting in the amputation of his right arm. Yet he served for two more years. He resigned his commission in April 1864 to serve as an enrolling officer of the 5th District of Georgia. After the War he served as Commander of the "Smith Camp," a division of the United Confederate Veterans and rose to Brigadier General and Commander of the Eastern Division. He was a public servant, farmer, and business man-Clerk and Treasurer of the Superior Court, Judge of the Court of Ordinary, and original stockholder in the Macon and Dublin Railroad. He married Ella Few Douglas in 1867 and reared ten children in this house. She, her mother, her sister and four other women founded the First Methodist Church. Capt. Smith donated the land next to this house to build the church in 1887.
Side 2
Capt. Hard Smith completed this fine example of Carpenter Gothic architecture in 1873. The home, the oldest in Dublin still on its original site, is located at what was a small farm extending north to the creek in Stubb´s Park, west to Church St. and east to the church and cemetery. The house sits on piers of flint rocks hauled in from the Oconee River. Captain Smith planted a grove of magnolias around the front of the home to protect it from direct sunlight. The house features very steep gables, ornate barge boards, dormers, striking chimney tops, clustered columns, heavy timer framing, and board and batten construction or area heart pine. The front porch and barge boards have been replicated from the original design with local heart pine lumber. The roof is shingled in a manner similar to the original. The first floor of the house contains the master bed room, a drawing room, and two smaller rooms. Upstairs are three bedrooms, connected by a unique spiral stair case, the inner wall built by a cooper of two-inch boards like barrel staves, spiraling up to support the steps from the main hallway near the front door. The kitchen was situated at the rear of the house to prevent fires from spreading to the main house and keep the stove´s heat from penetrating the main residence. The original kitchen burned around the turn of the 20th century and was replaced in a style in keeping with the original design. The house features a built in shallow well and casing in the breeze way. The house was saved from destruction by the nonprofit "Capt. Hard Smith House Restoration, Inc." through private donations and various grants as a memorial to Capt. Smith and the other area veterans. The home is now a private residence.
Sponsor: Georgia Civil War Commission
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Ken Moser.