Dublin Family Connection and History

.

In 1909 my grandmother, Myrtis Corker, was born in this house in Dublin, Georgia. It is one of the finest homes in Dublin. She was one of 8 siblings born to Frank Corker who was the mayor of Dublin from 1893- 1895. Frank Corker was a prominent citizen of Dublin was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Dublin in 1913.

May 2010 my mother Myrtis Bullard Hall came to Dublin and for the first time in her life had a chance to see and visit the home. Here we are standing under the widow's walk and then sitting on the front porch.

Today Frank Corker's picture hangs on the wall in Dublin city Hall along with pictures of each of the Mayor's of Dublin.

Myrtis Corker was a fine Southern Lady who married Ralph Bullard in 1930. This picture was taken on her wedding day.

Ralph Bullard was born in 1905 in Poulan, Georgia. This picture is from the Georgia Tech Year Book showing him on the National Championship Football Team in 1928.

Frank Corker's father was Stephen Alpheastus Corker. He was a Confederate Veteran who led the Third Georgia Regiment's charge at Gettysburg as a Captain. After the War Between the States he returned to his law practice and served in the 41st US Congress.

On April 26, 2017 I published a book on Captain Corker's Letters. Details on how to order are shown below.



To order a copy of Above the High Water Mark see the ad below:

See more detail in the blog post below:

Above the High Water Mark

My deep love and affection for my grandparents, especially my grandmother who we called Nana Bee, brought me to Dublin to restore the Hardy Smith House.

Power gets turned on

.

Georgia Power came out yesterday 11/19/09 and brought out the heavy equipment to get the house hooked up with power.

.

They dug a line from the nearest pole to the house.

Here they are hooking up the line.



The result is after probably 40 or 50 years the house now has power in every room. At night the charm of an Old South home is now a reality!

The Day The House was Bought

.

The Hardy Smith House was bought from the Hardy Smith Foundation on October 15th 2007. Below are some shots of the house on this day. The foundation had saved the home from being torn down approximately 12 years before being purchased. For about 10 years work was done to preserve the home. The foundation did a wonderful job restoring the outside and some of the inside of the home. Then about two years before it was sold there was no activity. The yard was left to the elements as shown below.

A lot of debris had fallen from the trees and the yard needed some work.

On the right were wisteria vines taking over the house on the right side.

More examples of the yard work needed.

The home was almost hidden behind all the overgrown brush.

A view from the back of the house.



You could not even see the house from the back parking area of the Methodist Church.

One of the first things done to the house was yard work. A total of approximately 25 truck loads of brush and debris was removed from the property to clean the yard up!

New Construction

.

Thanks to the Morris Bank in Dublin construction has begun on the Hardy Smith House to have electric service in the entire house, heating and air throughout and a new bathroom done.

Since September of this year the work crews have been showing up everyday.

The first thing done was to start cutting the floor for heating and air vents. There was no heating and air in the house. Each room had a fire place for winter and in the heat of summer you just opened up the windows or put in a window air unit.

The electric work starts with putting in the electrical outlets in each room. Previous to the electric work done the only power came from a front pole with with power cords. So it gets kinda dark in parts of the house with no power cord :P

The bathroom is going to be done in a 1920's eara look. This is the start of what will soon be...

Upstair guest bedroom was done....then came the electricians tearing out the baseboards to wire the room. Since this is the first go at restoration for your's truely I should have waited. However, won't be to hard to fix once they are done.

Amigos with the heating and air putting in some of the duct work for the house.

More to come!