Probably more so than any other home in Home Seekers' Paradise, the Hardy House is iconic to Brookhaven.  Built with red brick made on site, the Italianate Home on Natchez Avenue at South Jackson was built in 1877 and had not left the original family until 2006.  

It was occupied by the immediate and extended family of original owner/builder Capt. Jack C. Hardy, a former ship captain who "hobnobbed with Presidents" and was one of the wealthiest men in the state of Mississippi at the time, being the top "turf man" and partner in the J.M Brown & Co. Horse Racing Firm.

 

Unusual for the times, the expansive home had an indoor bathroom on the first floor and featured built-in closets -- luxuries for the day and age, since such items were often taxed at a much higher rate. 

 

You may have heard of Talullah Ragsdale? The actress and writer lived in the Hardy House for many years. We found several postcards of her famous friends, including Greta Garbo, in the home. 

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She was the only child of the Confederate officer, James Lafayette Ragsdale, who died in battle during the American Civil War, when she was very young. Her mother, Martha Hooker Ragsdale was Ellen Hooker's sister.

 

One of her ancestors was Nathaniel Hooker, a pilgrim father, whose immediate descendants settled in Virginia. Ragsdale received her early education from her mother.

 

At an early age, Ragsdale became an unsatisfiable reader, always seeking the weird, the unreal, the mystic, the vivid, the passionate, the glowing in prose and poetry. Read more about Lulah.