About Hardman Farm State Historic Site
Hardman Farm State Historic Site is located in White County, just south of Helen, Georgia, along the historic Unicoi Turnpike—a 200-mile trail that began as a buffalo path, evolved into a Native American trading route, and later served as a major colonial road connecting Toccoa to western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The site preserves the 19th-century Italianate mansion of the Nichols/Hardman family, featuring original lighting, a period parlor, and a climate control system, along with the bedroom of Anna Ruby Nichols, after whom nearby Anna Ruby Falls is named. The property also includes the Sautee Nacoochee Indian Mound, a prominent Native American earthwork topped with a gazebo, and historic outbuildings such as the old barn, spring house, and horse barn, once part of the Nacoochee Dairy that operated from 1910 to the mid-1920s. Guided tours offer insight into the farm’s agricultural and domestic life, while the tree-lined road from the Visitor Center to the house remains a surviving segment of the Unicoi Turnpike. Leashed pets are permitted on trails but not in buildings.