Captain Hardy Smith House (Side 1)

Captain Hardy Smith House Built 1873. 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.