Hart County History
Hart County History

Hart County was created by an Act of the Legislature, dated December 7th, 1853, and was laid out in 1854 from territory taken from Franklin and Elbert counties. Other territory was added from time-to-time and several changes made to its boundary lines.

In May of 1854 the Judges of the Inferior Court (County Council) purchased, for $200, 100 acres of land on which to locate the county seat. The land was purchased from the heirs of James Vickery and was laid off into streets, squares and lots. This land became Hartwell.

Hart County is bordered on the north and west by Lake Hartwell, on the south by Elbert County, and on the west by Madison and Franklin Counties. On the east is South Carolina with the counties of Anderson and Oconee bordering Hart's boundary line. Lake Hartwell is a man-made lake that was created by Act of Congress (The Flood Control Act of 17 May 1950), creating Hartwell Dam and Lake Hartwell. Lake Hartwell was created from February 1961 to March 1963. With the flooding of Lake Hartwell, several communities were lost to the lake waters. Several graves (and even entire cemeteries) were relocated to other areas within the county.

Hart County has many unique place names, which have been listed on various Hart County maps. Other communities have not been listed on the map of Hart County, but they have very unsual names. Some of these unique place names are:

  1. Amandaville
  2. Aquavia
  3. Biggars
  4. Bio
  5. Bonami
  6. Fellowship Church
  7. Ford's Store
  8. Grit
  9. Pay Up
  10. Tombs
This is by no means a comprehensive listing. Please see Georgia Place Names-Hart County for more Hart County comunities and maps dating back to 1855.



small hart map

Hart County, Georgia was named for Nancy Morgan Hart, an early settler and a Revolutionary heroine who served as a rebel spy and killed five Tories who threatened her home. A correspondant for the Savannah Morning News said that it was called Hart County ... "to perpetuate the memory of that 'Honey of a patriot' mentioned in George White's Statistics, under the name of Nancy Hart, and a fit tribute for such a brave hearted woman." Hart County is the only county in Georgia, and possibly the United States, named for a woman.

Would you like to learn more about Hart County and the famous heroine of Hart county? Please click on to the link below:

Nancy Hart

The New Georgia Encyclopedia - Hart County

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Hartwell Dam and Lake


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This page was last updated on -11/17/2013