Our History

When Jessie B. Hart, a successful Macon entrepreneur, purchased a local undertaking firm in 1899, funeral service was still a relatively new profession.

Hart, however, was dedicated to making a meaningful impact. He would buy out his business partner two years later, acquire a second undertaking firm, and make decisions based on his commitment to service. 

A Reputation for Service

By 1904, funeral service was already changing and taking on some of the features we value today. For one thing, Macon families started to expect mortuaries to provide chapels where services could be held. As newspaper from the time chronicled the growing trend: “The custom of conducting funerals from the undertakers’ chapel has long prevailed in the North and is coming more and more into use in the South. This advantage is much appreciated by those families in which a death occurs after a long illness, the home being in disorder.” Hart’s soon added a horse-drawn ambulance, then a automobile ambulance, the first to be used in Macon. The firm grew

to need more employees as well, and Jesse Hart’s brother, J. Freeman Hart, joined in 2008. By 1926, six full-time employees worked at what was then being called Jesse B Hart and Brother. Both men came to hold leading positions in their profession as well, serving as presidents of the Georgia State Funeral Association. Jesse also served on the legislative committee of the National Funeral Directors Association, and Freeman was appointed to the State Board of Funeral Examiners, honors that contributed to Hart’s being recognized by the local press as “one of the largest and best known establishments of its kind in the state.” 

Hart’s Mortuary and Cremation Center has always set the highest standards for excellent service.