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 reëstablished 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, Commissioners, 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.