May 12, 1911 — A local business leader narrowly escaped death after he was lodged armpit-deep in a truckload of coal.
Hartwell Mills superintendent C.H. Rice was standing on top of a pile of coal as workers prepared to unload it when the doors suddenly opened and rushed the coal out of the vehicle, bringing Rice with it.
Despite being “firmly wedged up to his armpits,” he averted any serious injuries, The Sun reported.
“Had the coal not become clogged up at the opening, Mr. Rice would undoubtedly been buried alive,” The Sun reported.
May 14, 1943
Hartwell High School graduated its largest class yet and drew a great crowd at graduation as respected speakers, such as the University of Georgia president, attended the ceremony.
“In colorful and elaborate exercises,” The Sun reported, 123 boys and girls, the school’s largest graduating class at the time, received diplomas at the Hart County Auditorium.
Dr. Harmon W. Caldwell, the president of the University of Georgia at the time, delivered a literary address to the crowd, described by many to be “one of the best ever heard here,” The Sun reported. He deeply impressed the graduating class and the audience with his message on “Education and Achievement.”
“A man’s only limitations are those he sets upon his own mind,” Caldwell said in his speech.
Dr. D.A. Howard, pastor of Hartwell Baptist church at the time, delivered a “masterful and well-timed message” in the baccalaureate sermon.
The class valedictorian was Wayne Harris and the salutatorian was Alice Dean Scott.
May 16, 1985 — A local man shared memories about what Hartwell was like in its early days through records handed down by family members through three generations.
Hubert Scott, an 80-year-old man of Old Highway 29 at the time, enjoyed studying records and various histories dealing with Hartwell and Hart County about how it started and changed over the years.
Scott recalled being told his grandfather, Jim Eddie Scott, built the first store and post office before Hartwell was established.
Logs were used to build the store and mail arrived by horseback in those days, he said. The store was located in Hartwell before the courthouse and a town eventually developed.
“It was nothing but woods and Indian territory then,” he said.