Profit…and Loss

Profit…and Loss. . Before the Civil War, this quiet creek was a busy place. George and John Hardage, who lived nearby, started a sawmill here in 1853. Their mill turned Americans chestnuts, pines, hickory, and oak trees into thousands of board feet of lumber., Like other sawmills in north Georgia, the Hardage sawmill was a cornerstone of the local economy. Some landowners sold logs as a cash crop. Others worked cutting and hauling trees. Most people needed planking for houses, barns, fences, and furniture., By mid-June of 1864, both Confederate and Union soldiers were entrenched and firing at each other from the woods just north of the sawmill. The Hardages and their neighbors had to flee for their lives. Some never returned., (caption) , Because both armies needed a constant supply of logs and planks for building earthworks, it is unlikely that the Hardage sawmill survived the war. , The sawmill is a rendition based upon best available information.