Seven Pines. Benjamin Franklin Hardin (1803-1878) came to this area with other members of his family in 1826. Settling in the Atascosito District of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas, Franklin Hardin was named surveyor of the district in 1834. As a member of the Liberty Volunteers, he participated in the Battle of Concepcion and the Siege of Bexar in 1835 and the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Hardin and his wife Cynthia O'Brien built a home on this site in 1839. the homesite, later known as Seven Pines, remained in the Hardin family for four generations. The family moved to a farm north of Liberty about 1845, but moved back and built a new house here in 1856. While Franklin Hardin was serving in the seventh Texas Legislature, Hardin County was created in 1858 and named in honor of his family. Following the deaths of Franklin and Cynthia Hardin, ownership of the homesite passed to their descendants. Geraldine Davis Humphreys inherited the property in 1914. One year later the 1856 home was destroyed by fire. Geraldine Humphreys (d. 1961) bequeathed Seven Pines to the Humphreys Foundation, which donated it to the city of Liberty in 1969. The Geraldine D. Humphreys Cultural Center was built in 1969-70. #9687