Bryan County was created by act of the legislature on Dec. 19, 1793, and was named for Jonathan Bryan, a Revolutionary patriot and member of the Executive Council in 1777. The "lost town" of Hardwick on the Ogeechee River was its first temporary county site. Laid out in 1755, Hardwick was named for Lord Hardwick, Lord Chancellor of England, a relative of Governor Reynolds. Two royal governors recommended that Hardwick be the capital of Georgia. An act of 1797 designated a new county site at Cross Roads, 2 miles from Ogeechee Bridge. The site was later moved to Clyde and then Pembroke.