Before the Purchase of the House

The Hardy Smith House was run down and in danger of being torn down. Luckily the Captain Hardy Smith Camp #104 Sons of Confederate Veterans got together and became the lead force in Dublin, Georgia to preserve the home. The purchase of the home from the remaining members of the Smith Family occurred circa 1995.

Lynard and Dynard Sanders twins who did the fine craftsmanship on the restoration pre-purchase. Here they are on top of the roof of the front part of the house with the rebuilt chimney.

Side view of the house facing the Methodist Church.

 

This is the other side.

Leaking roof almost ruined the house.

Back part of the house where the kitchen is.

My office located on the right.

 Front view of the house.

 Another front view.

 Back view of the house.

Root Cellar

In 1873 there was no air conditioning, in-door toilets or electricity. So how to store your vegetables? A root cellar! Root cellars are for keeping food supplies at a low temperature and steady humidity. They keep food from freezing during the winter and keep food cool during the summer months to prevent spoilage.

The root cellar at the house was apparently not used after the kitchen had burned down around the turn of the 20th century. Soon thereafter electricity and refrigeration were in use taking the place of the need for root cellars.

Upon purchase of the house it was apparent that the cellar was used to dump trash and it flooded. Here is a shot of the flooding before anything was done.

It took a couple of months in 2010 to dig out all the trash, bricks, rocks and some treasures found. It was probably about two tons of materials removed.

This shot shows the room cleaned up all the way to the original floor. The original floor was completely covered by river rocks. A few are shown here.

 

After a couple of years we had to find a way to utilize this room. So we had some stairs built. The flooding is still an issue so this is treated wood.

Next step.....gravel to coat the floor.

 

   Here is an example of the type of flooding with heavy rains. Lucky we have a good pump.

And finally a good work shop is now in place. Everything is up on boards or bricks to keep from being ruined by the flooding.

From the outside new shutters for the root cellar. The wood for these shutters came from 100 year old timbers.

 

The Bertha Theatre

.This ticket stub was found behind a mantle in the House. It is to the Bertha Theatre. Below is the history of the Bertha Theatre written by Scott Thompson, Sr.

The Bertha Theatre (1913-1918), the largest auditorium ever built in Dublin, was the site of many of the country's best traveling musical and vaudeville shows. Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Burke, Treasurer of the United States, spoke to large crowds of concerned business men and farmers at the Bertha. The first talking pictures, which featured a gramophone played in synchronization with the film, were shown at the Bertha in 1913. The theatre also became the weekly site of wrestling matches. A local promoter even boasted that Dublin was "the Wrestling capital of the Southeast." Dublin's most glamorous theater burned to the ground in 1918.

My Office

. My office a few days after the purchase of the house. Note the old wallpaper. All the rest was torn down shortly after the purchase due to water damage and age.

I had the floor done shortly after purchase. You can see the condition of the walls and the fireplace.

To get the room complete I took a natural stain to all the walls and ceiling to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.

After staining the walls and ceiling I restored the fireplace.

Some shots of the walls in my office now.

This picture shows a section of the original wallpaper that once covered the walls of my office. This wall paper was discovered when the electricians pulled the bottom boards off. I took the nicest pieces and constructed a section to show the pattern. My office was once the dining room.

The Parlor - Gone With the Wind Room

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The front room on the bottom floor where guests were entertained was in pretty good shape. It was floor to ceiling wall paper that had to come down due to water damage.

On the wall original wallpaper.

What fun tearing all the paper down!

Above the fireplace before major work is started....to the left the wall is to be moved forward to match the right side. The right side has plywood which was put to cover the central heat/air heading upstairs.

 

The Wall had to be rebuilt to cover the plywood. Another shot of the fireplace.

The priming begins.

 

A lot of work on the ceiling getting it ready.

After priming the painting begins

The gold trim is original. Restored to it's original beauty by hand painting.

Done!