Craig Game Preserve proudly continues an eighth generation family farming operation. Hamilton Hall is named in honor of the first ancestor, Peter Hamilton (1785-1861), to make it his residence. The original log cabin was purchased by Peter Hamilton in 1835 and is now the back part of the house.
During the Civil War in the fall of 1863, General William Sherman and his men came through Lincoln County while headed for Chickamauga. Some of the troops raided the farm, capturing all livestock except a young donkey. Before leaving, one Union soldier turned to the young son of Robert Hamilton and asked the boy if his troops had gotten all the preserved foods the family had on the farm. He replied that the soldiers actually had not gotten the potatoes the family had hastily buried beside the smokehouse in anticipation of the raid. This original log smokehouse still stands, complete with an entire tree hollowed for salting down the hams.
The next owner of Craig Game Preserve was Oscar Hamilton, (1859-1945) Larry Craig's great-grandfather. He was known as a successful gentleman farmer and planter. Oscar decided to expand upon the original log cabin in late 1800’s. Oscar Hamilton's daughter, Clara Hamilton Craig (1884-1973), farmed the land with her husband, James A. Craig, Sr. until their only son, James A. Craig, Jr., returned from WWII. James and his wife reared five children on the land while raising hogs and beef cattle. He lived here till his death in 2000. Larry Craig and his wife, Janie, took over farming operations in 1995. In 2000, the farm was awarded a certificate from the state commemorating "A Century of Family Farming" for the previous 165 years of Craig Game Preserve's heritage.
