Bryan County GaArchives History - Books .....Hardwick 1878
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Book Title: Dead Towns Of Georgia

V.
HARDWICK.

  During his tour of inspection in 1755, Governor Reynolds was so much pleased
with the natural advantages of the Great Ogeechee river, that he selected a
bluff upon its right bank, some fourteen miles from the sea, as a location for a
new town, which, in honor of his relative the Lord High Chancellor of England,
he named HARDWICK.

  In his letter to the Board of Trade he says: "Hardwicke has a charming
situation, the winding of the river making it a peninsula; and it is the only
fit place for the capital.[1] There are many objections to this town of Savannah
being so, besides its being situated at the extremity of the province, the
shoalness of the river, and the great height of the land, which is very
inconvenient in the loading and unloading of ships. Many lots have already been
granted in Hardwicke, but only one house is yet built there; and as the province
is unable to be at the expence of erecting the necessary public buildings, and
the annual sum of ,£500 allowed for erecting and repairing public works,
entertaining Indians, and other incidental expenses being insufficient for all
those purposes, I am in hopes your Lordships will think proper to get a
sufficient sum allowed for erecting a Court-House, an Assembly-House, a Church,
and a Prison at Hard wick; which will be such an encouragement to private people
to build there as will soon make it fit for the seat of government to the
universal benefit of the province." [2]

  Upon the agitation of this project to transfer the capital of the colony from
Savannah to the Great Ogeechee, [3] twenty-seven lots were quickly taken up in
the town of Hardwick, and twenty-one thousand acres of land in its vicinity were
granted to various parties who favored and promised to develop the enterprize.
DeBrahm proposed that the place should be fortified by the erection of three
polygons, six hundred feet each, and three detached bastions, to be armed with
twenty-five cannon; and suggested a garrison of one hundred and fifty men. [4]

  The Home Government neglecting to furnish the necessary funds, and Governor
Reynolds being without the means requisite to compass the contemplated change,
his scheme of transferring the seat of government to Hardwick was never
consummated, and the town, deprived of its anticipated dignity and importance,
developed simply into a little trading village adapted to the convenience of the
few who there located and cultivated lands in the vicinity. [5]

  By DeBrahm [6] it was reckoned among the five sea-port towns of the province.
Although for many years a port of entry, its commerce was wholly domestic and
coastwise, being chiefly confined to the conveyance of the products of the
region, in small vessels, to Savannah, and the transportation, in return, of
such articles and supplies as were needed by the planters.

  By the act of the 15th of March, 1758, [7] dividing Georgia into eight
parishes, "the town of Hardwick and district of Ogechee on the south side of the
river Great Ogechee, extending north west up the said river as far as the lower
Indian trading path leading from Mount Pleasant, and southward from the town of
Hardwick as far as the swamp of James Dunham, including the settlements on the
north side of the north branches of the river Midway, with the islands of
Ossabaw, and from the head of the said Dunham's swamp in a north west line,"
were declared a parish by the name of ST. PHILIP.

  In 1786 [8] regulations were prescribed for the inspection of Tobacco at a
warehouse to be erected at Hardwick.

  By an Act, assented to on the 19th of December, 1793, [9] a new County was
laid off from Chatham, and, in honor of a venerable patriot, [10] was called Bryan.

  The legislature which passed this Act constituted John Wereat, Robert Holmes,
James McGillivray, William Clark, Simmons Maxwell, Thomas Collier, and Joseph
Stiles, Commissioners for the town and commons of Hardwick, with power, upon
three months' notice published in the Georgia Gazette, to cause a survey to be
made, as nearly as possible, in conformity to the original plan of the place.
This survey they were required to record in the office of the Surveyor of Bryan
County; and also in the office of the Surveyor General of the State. [11]

  By the second section of the Act these Commissioners were directed to sell at
public vendue, to the highest bidder, at such time and place as they should deem
best, and after published notice of six weeks in the Georgia Gazette, any vacant
lots in the town, and any lots which should have become vested in the State of
Georgia, reserving sucli only as might be proper for public uses. The proceeds
arising from these sales were to be primarily applied to the erection of a Court
House and Jail; and, if any balance remained in the hands of the Commissioners,
it was to be expended in building an Academy. Within three months after the
completion of such sales these Commissioners were to make full return to the
State Treasurer of the number of lots sold, the price which each brought, and of
the application of the funds realized.

  On the 23rd of December, 1791, [12] Hardwick was again designated, by special
legislative enactment, as one of the points in Georgia for the erection of a
public ware-house, and the inspection and shipment of tobacco.

  Eight years afterwards [13] the Justices of the Inferior Court of Bryan County
were authorized to lease, from time to time, and for a term not exceeding seven
years, the common of Hardwick and the glebe lands of the County, and apply the
rents and profits therefrom arising to the repair and improvement of the County
roads and bridges.

  Although the Act of 1793 appointed Commissioners and provided for the erection
of a County Court House and Jail at Hardwick, it does not appear that the
contemplated buildings were ever constructed. But few terms of the Superior
Court were held at this place. As early as 1797 the General Assembly of Georgia
[14] authorized the Justices of the Inferior Court of Bryan County to make
permanent seat of the public buildings "at the Cross-Roads about two miles from
Ogechee bridge, or at any other place within half a mile of the said
Cross-Roads." For this purpose they were empowered to purchase land not
exceeding two acres in extent.

  There the public business was transacted, until, in 1814, the Legislature [15]
was induced to sanction the selection of a new site more central in its location
and more convenient of access to the inhabitants who had multiplied in the upper
portion of the County. Godhilf Smith, Henry Sherman, James Martin, Zachariah
Wells, and Luke Man were designated as Commissioners to sell the old lot and
buildings at the cross-roads, and purchase in behalf of the County a parcel of
ground at the new site to be chosen at or near Mansfield, on the Canouchee
river, and superintend the erection thereon of new public buildings.

  Thus, instead of becoming the Capital of Georgia, Hardwick soon ceased to be
even the County-town of Bryan County.

  In Sibbald's "Notes and Observations on the Pine Lands of Georgia," [15] &c.,
written in 1801, we find the following notice of this village: "Hardwick,
situated near the mouth of Ogeechee river in Bryan County,-the navigation being
good, and having an extensive river running through a fertile country,-bids fair
to arrive at some considerable degree of Importance." This promise was never
fulfilled.

  From the best information we can obtain we are persuaded that the population
of Hardwick probably, at no time, exceeded one hundred souls. In 1824 Mr.
Alexander Netherclift was the only resident; and Sherwood, in his Gazetteer of
the State of Georgia for 1829,[16] speaks of Hardwick simply as "a cluster of
houses in Bryan." Among those who, from time to time, were inhabitants of the
place, may be mentioned Mr. Clark, Dr. Ward, Mr. Mifflen, Dr. John Jenkins, Dr.
Anthony Benezet, Dr. T. J. Charlton, Dr. Louis Turner, and Mr. William Savage.
The commerce of Hardwick was never large, and was conducted by means of small
craft plying between it and Savannah. Sloops and schooners sufficed, with
occasional trips, to convey to a market the agricultural products of the
neighborhood, and in return to bring back plantation supplies.

  After the removal of the public buildings from the Cross-Roads, and upon the
completion of the causeway through the swamp and of the bridge over the Great
Ogeechee river,-thereby establishing immediate and convenient communication by
land with Savannah,-the trade of Hardwick declined, and its small
stores,-abandoned of their keepers,-lapsed into decay.

  The bluff upon which the town was located rises about fourteen feet above the
level of the Great Ogeechee, and is distant  some two miles from Genesis' Point,
to which Fort McAllister gave such heroic memories during the Confederate
struggle for independence. In front, stretching to the north, is a point of land
or peninsula. On the west the fresh waters of the Great Ogeechee river lave the
Hardwick bluff, and then treading northward, and at right angles to the general
course .of the stream, by a graceful bend to the east embrace the northern
extremity of the peninsula. Again turning to the south, the river reaches the
eastern bluff of the town, where, curving gently, it pursues its course,
emptying through Ossabaw sound into the Atlantic Ocean. This peninsula in front
of the town constitutes a dividing line between the fresh and brackish waters of
the river. At the point where it springs from the bluff it is less than a
quarter of a mile wide, although a journey of several miles is requisite to
complete its circuit by water.

  From the bluff, backward toward the south, extends a high and dry plain
adapted for the location of a town. The surroundings, however, were unhealthy
during the Summer and Fall months, and there was nothing to encourage
population, or ensure the continuance and prosperity of the settlement.

  In 1866 a feeble effort was made to revive the town of Hardwick; and the
Georgia Legislature on the 21st of March of that year passed an act the leading
provisions of which are as follows:

  After reciting the fact that the Commissioners of Hardwick had long ago
departed this life, that the site of the town and its common had been regranted
by the State to private individuals, and suggesting the advisability that
Hardwick should be reestablished for the better advancement of the industrial
resources of the State, the Act appointed Jacob M. Middleton, Thomas C. Arnold,
William Patterson, Henry E. Smith, and John W. Magill, Cominissioners, and
authorized them to acquire by cession or purchase the town of Hardwick and its
common "not to exceed one hundred. and fifty acres in extent." Having obtained
proper titles to the land, these Commissioners, or a majority of them, were
directed to have the town of Hardwick surveyed and laid out into lots of such
form and dimensions as they should deem fit. Plans of the town were to be by
them filed in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Bryan County, and
in the office of the Surveyor General of the State.

  Full power was vested in them to sell the town lots, except such as they might
determine to reserve for public uses. Upon completion of the survey, and upon
filing plans of the town in accordance with the requirements of the Act, the
Commissioners were authorized to select one of their' number as an Intendant.
Thereupon they were declared incorporated by the name and style of the
"Intendant and Commissioners of the town of Hardwicke," with power to make such
by-laws and regulations for its good order and government as were not repugnant
to the constitution and laws of Georgia, and of the United States.

  Although fortified by this legislation, no action was taken by the
Commissioners, three of whom are now dead.

  Hardwick exists only in name, and will probably never be vitalized into a
municipal entity.

ENDNOTES

[1] To Mr. G. W. J. DeRonne are we indebted for the following memoranda from H.
M. Public Record Office, Georgia, Vol. 35, B. T., touching the primal
settlement, and naming of Hardwick:

  "May 13, 1754.-The Neck of Land called the Elbow on Great Ogeechee River-which
(on the 10th Day of this Month) they had named George-Town."

  "1 Feb., 1755.-His Excellency was pleased (with the approbation of the Board)
to name the Town lately laid out at a Place commonly called the Elbow on Great
Ogeechee River, Hardwick."

  "Minutes of the Proceedings of the Governor in Council."

[2] Board of Trade. V. 167.

  Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. I, pp. 405, 406. New York, 1847.

  White's Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 183. New York, 1855.

[3] This river was then called the GREAT HOGOHECHIE, which responds more nearly
to its original Indian name than the appellation subsequently adopted.

[4] See Plans and Elevations of the Forts necessary in Georgia, forwarded with
Governor Reynolds' letter of the 5th of January, 1756, and now of  file in the
Public Record Office, London; Maps B. T., vol. XIII, No. 14. 

[5] The design of transferring the Capital of the Colony from Savannah to
Hardwick, conceived by Governor Reynolds, was adhered to by his successor,
Governor Ellis. "The depth of water in the river, its more central position, its
greater distance from Charleston-the proximity to which, he argued, restricted
the commerce of Savannah- the convenience of its harbour as a naval station, and
the fertility of its adjacent lands, were the principal motives which operated
with him to enforce the plan suggested by his predecessor. As a consequence of
clinging to this scheme of removal, Governor Reynolds had neglected repairing
the public buildings of Savannah, and its inhabitants had ceased enlarging and
beautifying a town so soon to be deserted. The Filature was out of repair, the
Church was so decayed that it was only kept from falling down by surrounding it
with props, and the prison 'was shocking to humanity.'

  " The removal of the Seat of Government to Hardwicke, which had received the
favorable notice of former Governors, was discouraged by Sir James Wright, who
argued that if the object of a removal was to obtain a more central position,
Hardwicke was too near; while, on the other hand, a removal there would be very
disadvantageous to the present capital which was conveniently settled for
intercourse with the Indians and for trade with South Carolina. The project was
therefore abandoned, and the attention of the Assembly was directed to enlarging
and strengthening the City which Oglethorpe had founded."

  Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. I, p. 433. Vol. II, p. 19.

[6] History of the Province of Georgia, &c., p. 25. Wormsloe, 1849.

[7] Marbury and Crawford's Digest, p. 151.

[8] Watkin's Digest, p. 339.

[9] Marbury and Crawford's Digest, p. 167.

[10] Jonathan Bryan.

[11] Careful search fails to disclose a map of this survey either among the
records of Bryan County, or in the State Archives.

[12] Marbury and Crawford's Digest, pp. 544, 546.

[13] Idem., p. 160.

[14] Marbury and Crawford's Digest, p. 174.

[15] Lamar's Digest, p. 211.

[15] Page 65. Augusta, 1801.

[16] Page 116.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

THE DEAD TOWNS OF GEORGIA;
BY
CHARLES C. JONES, JR.

FOR HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING CITY.
Heb.: xiii. 14

SAVANNAH:
MORNING NEWS STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 
1878.

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